Research from Prof. Pramod Reddy’s group on thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions
published in Nature Nanotechnology and highlighted on the cover of the November issue
Nature Nanotechnology, a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal, has published the research of Professor Pramod Reddy and featured it on the cover of its November 2014 edition.
The paper, titled “Electrostatic control of thermoelectricity in molecular junctions,” was first published by the journal online on October 5th, 2014. It is co-authored by Reddy, and members of his group: Youngsang Kim, Wonho Jeong, Kyeongtae Kim and Woochul Lee. The collective research explores the feasibility of tuning the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions. While past work by Reddy and others has pioneered the examination of molecular junctions’ thermoelectric properties, so far it has not been possible to tune their properties. Reddy and his co-workers engineered novel three-terminal nano-devices that are capable of electrostatically tuning the electronic structure of molecular junctions, while applying temperature differentials and measuring thermoelectric properties. Using these devices, the team showed that the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions could be significantly enhanced. These observations are expected to help realize recent computational predictions that forecast extremely efficient thermoelectric energy conversion in molecular junctions.
Reddy is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. His primary research interests include Nanoscale charge and energy transport, thermoelectric devices, scanning probe microscopy and near-field thermal transport.
