Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Science & Technology
Why in News?
A team from JNCASR, Bengaluru, in collaboration with other researchers, has identified an unusual wave-like thermal transport regime in the copper chalcogenide thallium copper selenide.
- Material studied – Thallium copper selenide (TlCu5Se3), a copper chalcogenide.
- Conducted at – JNCASR, Bengaluru, an autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology.
- Key discovery – An unusual wave-like thermal transport regime, attributed to confined copper atom dynamics within a complex crystal framework.
- Result – The material exhibits intrinsically ultralow lattice thermal conductivity and favorable electronic transport, leading to high thermoelectric performance with a zT of approximately 1.7, which is notable among pristine ternary chalcogenides.
- Potential applications – It include thermoelectric energy conversion in
- Power plants,
- Cement and steel industries,
- Automobiles, and data centers,
- Battery heat management and
- Thermal barrier coatings.
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Thermoelectric Energy Conversion
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- Thermoelectric materials enable the direct conversion of temperature gradients into electrical energy.
- Key Parameter – The thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) is a critical parameter; a higher zT value typically signifies improved thermoelectric conversion efficiency.
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Anharmonicity refers to the deviation of atomic vibrations from ideal harmonic or parabolic behavior.
Reference
DST | Unusual Wave-Like Heat Transport in Crystalline Solid
