Nanowire Thermoelectric Power Factor Lab

Nanostructuring a thermoelectric material does two separate jobs: it scatters phonons at grain boundaries to cut thermal conductivity, and — the mechanism this simulator isolates — it reshapes the electronic density of states through quantum confinement, which the Mott formula converts directly into a larger Seebeck coefficient. Switch between bulk (3D), thin-film (2D) and nanowire (1D) confinement, shrink the wire's cross-section to push its subbands apart, slide the Fermi level across the resulting staircase or van Hove spikes, and watch the live Seebeck coefficient, conductivity and power factor respond while electrons visibly drift from the hot end of the wire to the cold end.