Elastocaloric effect in carbon nanostructures: a computacional study

• Grant number: 20/05333-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2020
• End date: July 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Fontes da Fonseca
• Grantee: Tatiana Naomi Yamamoto Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

One of actual challenges in science and technology is the development of more efficient methods to provide refrigeration that do not harm nature. Applications range from heat dissipation in electro-electronic devices, to air conditioning and food refrigeration. The increasing trends towards miniaturization of technological devices had stimulated research on new forms of refrigeration at the micro and nano scales. One of the alternative ways of cooling a system is through the so-called elastocaloric effect (eC). eC consists of the thermal response of a material subject to the action of an external force or stress. Although the literature reports the existence of several types of materials that have a significant eC effect, recently, some studies have shown that graphene and carbon nanotubes have eC effects at intensities that exceed those of some known materials, and with performance comparable to that of modern domestic refrigerators, which is known to present the best cost/benefit in terms of energy. In this project, we propose a computational study, using classical molecular dynamics methods, of the eC effect on carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes, cut graphene nanoribbons and graphine nanoribbons. We will investigate the dependence of the eC effect on these structures with factors such as size, number of layers, chirality, defects, etc. The results will be compared with those from the literature and have the potential to result in scientific publications.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SILVA, TATIANA NAOMI YAMAMOTO; FONSECA, ALEXANDRE F.. High performance of carbon nanotube elastocaloric refrigerators over a large temperature span. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, v. 106, n. 16, p. 9-pg., 2022-10-13. (20/05333-1, 20/02044-9)