Heat Transport in Novel Nanostructured Materials and their Thermoelectric

# Represents equal contribution Abstract The novel heat transport properties observed in nanostructured materials are promoting revolutionary breakthroughs from highly thermal conductive carbon- based materials to highly-electrical conductive thermal insulators. This article is focused on the thermal transport characteristics of nanostructured materials and their potential uses in thermoelectric applications. We show that nanostructuring could turn common semiconductor materials into thermal insulators while keeping their electronic properties. These two characteristics are responsible for a large increase in thermoelectric efficiency ( ZT). Highly efficient thermoelectric nanostructured materials are now considered a viable option in applications such as harvesting wasted heat to produce electricity and transistor cooling. We also discussed the recent advancement for the use of nanostructured thermoelectrics in fields such as solar power generation, and future applications of band engineered nanowires and thermoelectric biosensors.