Thermal and thermoelectric transport in low-dimensional materials using scanning probe microscopy
Energy transport phenomena such as thermoelectricity and heat flow are fundamental issues of basic research as well as a key scientific problem of many technological applications. The need for the development of high efficient nanomaterials arises from new challenges brought by the quest of continuous improvement and miniaturisation of micro- and nano-devices. As the characteristic dimensions become comparable to the wavelength, coherence-length and mean-free-path of charge and energy carriers, e.g., electrons and phonons, novel transport and dissipation phenomena are expected to arise. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques have enabled the direct observation of such phenomena with high spatial and temperature resolution. In this talk we discuss a variety of novel SPM-based measurement techniques used to investigate thermal and thermoelectric transport in low-dimensional materials such as two-dimensional materials and heterostructures, SiGe nanowires, block copolymer films and active nanoscale devices.