NANO :: HEAT :: ENERGY
The Nanoengineering Group is part of the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT. Our research is focused on nanoscale energy transport, conversion, and storage. There are fundamental differences between transport processes at the nanoscale and the macroscale due to quantum and classical size effects; for example, both classical diffusion laws and Planck's law for blackbody radiation break down in nanostructures. We explore these effects for improving energy conversion efficiency and storage density, and thermal energy transport. Examples include nanostructured thermoelectric materials for direct energy conversion between thermal and electric energy, nanostructured hydrogen storage materials, and thermal management of microdevices. Our work is interdisciplinary and combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, and materials science.
The links on the left contain examples from current and recent projects. For more in-depth information on our research, please see our publications.