High temperature thermoelectric properties of p-type skutterudites BaxYbyCo4-zFezSb12

KAUST Repository

Dong, Y.

2012-01-01

Several polycrystalline p-type skutterudites with compositions Ba xYb yCo 4-zFe zSb 12, with varying filler concentrations x and y, and z = 1 to 2, were synthesized by reacting the constituents and subsequent solid state annealing, followed by densification by hot-pressing. Their thermoelectric properties were evaluated from 300 to 820 K. The Yb filling fraction increased with Fe content while the amount of Fe substitution had little influence on the Ba filling fraction. High purity specimens were obtained when the Fe content was low. Bipolar conduction contributed to the thermal conductivity at elevated temperatures. A maximum ZT value of 0.7 was obtained at 750 K for the specimen with the highest Fe content and filling fraction. The potential for thermoelectric applications is also discussed. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Enhanced thermoelectric property of oxygen deficient nickel doped SnO2 for high temperature application

Science.gov (United States)

Paulson, Anju; Sabeer, N. A. Muhammad; Pradyumnan, P. P.

2018-04-01

Motivated by the detailed investigation on the thermoelectric performance of oxide materials our work concentrated on the influence of acceptor dopants and defect density in the lattice plane for the enhancement of thermoelectric power. The series of Sn1‑x Nix O2 (0.01 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) compositions were prepared by solid state reaction mechanism and found that 3 atomic percentage Ni doped SnO2 can be considered as a good candidate due to its promising electrical and transport properties. Defect lattices were introduced in the sample and the deviation from oxygen stochiometry was ensured using photoluminescence measurement. High power factor was obtained for the 3 atomic percentage nickel doped SnO2 due to the effective number of charge carrier concentration and the depletion of oxygen rich layers. Defect centered and acceptor doped SnO2 lattice opens a new door for energy harvesting at higher temperatures.

Maximum Efficiency of Thermoelectric Heat Conversion in High-Temperature Power Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. I. Khvesyuk

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Modern trends in development of aircraft engineering go with development of vehicles of the fifth generation. The features of aircrafts of the fifth generation are motivation to use new high-performance systems of onboard power supply. The operating temperature of the outer walls of engines is of 800–1000 K. This corresponds to radiation heat flux of 10 kW/m2 . The thermal energy including radiation of the engine wall may potentially be converted into electricity. The main objective of this paper is to analyze if it is possible to use a high efficiency thermoelectric conversion of heat into electricity. The paper considers issues such as working processes, choice of materials, and optimization of thermoelectric conversion. It presents the analysis results of operating conditions of thermoelectric generator (TEG used in advanced hightemperature power devices. A high-temperature heat source is a favorable factor for the thermoelectric conversion of heat. It is shown that for existing thermoelectric materials a theoretical conversion efficiency can reach the level of 15–20% at temperatures up to 1500 K and available values of Ioffe parameter being ZT = 2–3 (Z is figure of merit, T is temperature. To ensure temperature regime and high efficiency thermoelectric conversion simultaneously it is necessary to have a certain match between TEG power, temperature of hot and cold surfaces, and heat transfer coefficient of the cooling system. The paper discusses a concept of radiation absorber on the TEG hot surface. The analysis has demonstrated a number of potentialities for highly efficient conversion through using the TEG in high-temperature power devices. This work has been implemented under support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation; project No. 1145 (the programme “Organization of Research Engineering Activities”.

High temperature thermoelectric energy conversion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, C.

1986-01-01

Considerable advances were made in the late '50's and early early '60's in the theory and development of materials for high-temperature thermoelectric energy conversion. This early work culminated in a variety of materials, spanning a range of temperatures, with the product of the figure of merit, Z, and temperature, T, i.e., the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT, of the order of one. This experimental limitation appeared to be universal and led a number of investigators to explore the possibility that a ZT - also represents a theoretical limitation. It was found not to be so

Temperature-dependent thermal and thermoelectric properties of n -type and p -type S c1 -xM gxN

Science.gov (United States)

Saha, Bivas; Perez-Taborda, Jaime Andres; Bahk, Je-Hyeong; Koh, Yee Rui; Shakouri, Ali; Martin-Gonzalez, Marisol; Sands, Timothy D.

2018-02-01

Scandium Nitride (ScN) is an emerging rocksalt semiconductor with octahedral coordination and an indirect bandgap. ScN has attracted significant attention in recent years for its potential thermoelectric applications, as a component material in epitaxial metal/semiconductor superlattices, and as a substrate for defect-free GaN growth. Sputter-deposited ScN thin films are highly degenerate n -type semiconductors and exhibit a large thermoelectric power factor of ˜3.5 ×10-3W /m -K2 at 600-800 K. Since practical thermoelectric devices require both n- and p-type materials with high thermoelectric figures-of-merit, development and demonstration of highly efficient p-type ScN is extremely important. Recently, the authors have demonstrated p-type S c1 -xM gxN thin film alloys with low M gxNy mole-fractions within the ScN matrix. In this article, we demonstrate temperature dependent thermal and thermoelectric transport properties, including large thermoelectric power factors in both n- and p-type S c1 -xM gxN thin film alloys at high temperatures (up to 850 K). Employing a combination of temperature-dependent Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity measurements, as well as detailed Boltzmann transport-based modeling analyses of the transport properties, we demonstrate that p-type S c1 -xM gxN thin film alloys exhibit a maximum thermoelectric power factor of ˜0.8 ×10-3W /m -K2 at 850 K. The thermoelectric properties are tunable by adjusting the M gxNy mole-fraction inside the ScN matrix, thereby shifting the Fermi energy in the alloy films from inside the conduction band in case of undoped n -type ScN to inside the valence band in highly hole-doped p -type S c1 -xM gxN thin film alloys. The thermal conductivities of both the n- and p-type films were found to be undesirably large for thermoelectric applications. Thus, future work should address strategies to reduce the thermal conductivity of S c1 -xM gxN thin-film alloys, without affecting

Thermoelectric properties of SnSe compound

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guan, Xinhong [State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, P.O. Box 72, Beijing 100876 (China); Lu, Pengfei, E-mail: photon@bupt.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, P.O. Box 72, Beijing 100876 (China); Wu, Liyuan; Han, Lihong [State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, P.O. Box 72, Beijing 100876 (China); Liu, Gang [School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876 (China); Song, Yuxin [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China); Wang, Shumin [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China); Photonics Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg (Sweden)

2015-09-15

Highlights: • The electronic and thermoelectric properties of SnSe bulk material are studied. • The ZT can reach as high as 1.87 along yy and 1.6 along zz direction at 800k. • SnSe is an indirect-band material, and SOC has little effect on the band structure. • The high ZT can be attributed to the intrinsically ultralow thermal conductivity. - Abstract: A first-principles study and Boltzmann transport theory have been performed to evaluate the electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of SnSe compound. The energy band structure and density of states are studied in detail. The electronic transport coefficients are then calculated as a function of chemical potential or temperature within the assumption of the constant relaxation time. The figure of merit ZT is obtained with the use of calculated thermoelectric properties and can reach as high as 1.87 along yy and 1.6 along zz direction at 800 K. Our theoretical result agrees well with previous experimental data.

Thermoelectric properties of SnSe compound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guan, Xinhong; Lu, Pengfei; Wu, Liyuan; Han, Lihong; Liu, Gang; Song, Yuxin; Wang, Shumin

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The electronic and thermoelectric properties of SnSe bulk material are studied. • The ZT can reach as high as 1.87 along yy and 1.6 along zz direction at 800k. • SnSe is an indirect-band material, and SOC has little effect on the band structure. • The high ZT can be attributed to the intrinsically ultralow thermal conductivity. - Abstract: A first-principles study and Boltzmann transport theory have been performed to evaluate the electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of SnSe compound. The energy band structure and density of states are studied in detail. The electronic transport coefficients are then calculated as a function of chemical potential or temperature within the assumption of the constant relaxation time. The figure of merit ZT is obtained with the use of calculated thermoelectric properties and can reach as high as 1.87 along yy and 1.6 along zz direction at 800 K. Our theoretical result agrees well with previous experimental data

Thermoelectric properties control due to doping level and sintering conditions for FGM thermoelectric element

CERN Document Server

Kajikawa, T; Shiraishi, K; Ohmori, M; Hirai, T

1999-01-01

Thermoelectric performance is determined with three factors, namely, Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity. For metal and single crystalline semiconductor, those factors have close interrelation each $9 other. However, as the sintered thermoelectric element has various levels of superstructure from macro scale and micro scale in terms of the thermoelectric mechanism, the relationship among them is more complex than that for the $9 melt- grown element, so it is suggested that the control of the temperature dependence of thermoelectric properties is possible to enhance the thermoelectric performance for wide temperature range due to FGM approach. The research $9 objective is to investigate the characteristics of the thermoelectric properties for various doping levels and hot-pressed conditions to make the thermoelectric elements for which the temperature dependence of the performance is $9 controlled due to FGM approach varying the doping levels and sintering conditions. By usage ...

Enhanced low-temperature thermoelectrical properties of BiTeCl grown by topotactic method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacimovic, J.; Mettan, X.; Pisoni, A.; Gaal, R.; Katrych, S.; Demko, L.; Akrap, A.; Forro, L.; Berger, H.; Bugnon, P.; Magrez, A.

2014-01-01

We developed a topotactic strategy to grow BiTeCl single crystals. Structural characterization by means of X-ray diffraction was performed, and the high crystallinity of the material was proven. Measurements of the thermoelectrical coefficients electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power and thermal conductivity show an enhanced room temperature power factor of 20 μW cm −1 K −2 . The high value of the figure of merit (ZT = 0.17) confirms that BiTeCl is a promising material for engineering in thermoelectric applications at low temperature

Crystal orientation dependent thermoelectric properties of highly oriented aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films

KAUST Repository

Abutaha, Anas I.; Sarath Kumar, S. R.; Alshareef, Husam N.

2013-01-01

We demonstrate that the thermoelectric properties of highly oriented Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films can be improved by controlling their crystal orientation. The crystal orientation of the AZO films was changed by changing the temperature

Effect of high fluence neutron irradiation on transport properties of thermoelectrics

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, H.; Leonard, K. J.

2017-07-01

Thermoelectric materials were subjected to high fluence neutron irradiation in order to understand the effect of radiation damage on transport properties. This study is relevant to the NASA Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) program in which thermoelectric elements are exposed to radiation over a long period of time in space missions. Selected n-type and p-type bismuth telluride materials were irradiated at the High Flux Isotope Reactor with a neutron fluence of 1.3 × 1018 n/cm2 (E > 0.1 MeV). The increase in the Seebeck coefficient in the n-type material was partially off-set by an increase in electrical resistivity, making the power factor higher at lower temperatures. For the p-type materials, although the Seebeck coefficient was not affected by irradiation, electrical resistivity decreased slightly. The figure of merit, zT, showed a clear drop in the 300-400 K range for the p-type material and an increase for the n-type material. Considering that the p-type and n-type materials are connected in series in a module, the overall irradiation damages at the device level were limited. These results, at neutron fluences exceeding a typical space mission, are significant to ensure that the radiation damage to thermoelectrics does not affect the performance of RTGs.

Crystal orientation dependent thermoelectric properties of highly oriented aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films

KAUST Repository

Abutaha, Anas I.

2013-02-06

We demonstrate that the thermoelectric properties of highly oriented Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films can be improved by controlling their crystal orientation. The crystal orientation of the AZO films was changed by changing the temperature of the laser deposition process on LaAlO3 (100) substrates. The change in surface termination of the LaAlO3 substrate with temperature induces a change in AZO film orientation. The anisotropic nature of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the AZO films showed a favored thermoelectric performance in c-axis oriented films. These films gave the highest power factor of 0.26 W m−1 K−1 at 740 K.

Very heavily electron-doped CrSi2 as a high-performance high-temperature thermoelectric material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parker, David; Singh, David J

2012-01-01

We analyze the thermoelectric behavior, using first principles and Boltzmann transport calculations, of very heavily electron-doped CrSi 2 and find that at temperatures of 900-1250 K and electron dopings of 1-4 × 10 21 cm -3 , thermopowers as large in magnitude as 200 μV K -1 may be found. Such high thermopowers at such high carrier concentrations are extremely rare, and suggest that excellent thermoelectric performance may be found in these ranges of temperature and doping. (paper)

Yb14MnSb11 as a High-Efficiency Thermoelectric Material

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Gascoin, Franck; Brown, Shawna; Kauzlarich, Susan

2009-01-01

Yb14MnSb11 has been found to be wellsuited for use as a p-type thermoelectric material in applications that involve hotside temperatures in the approximate range of 1,200 to 1,300 K. The figure of merit that characterizes the thermal-to-electric power-conversion efficiency is greater for this material than for SiGe, which, until now, has been regarded as the state-of-the art high-temperature ptype thermoelectric material. Moreover, relative to SiGe, Yb14MnSb11 is better suited to incorporation into a segmented thermoelectric leg that includes the moderate-temperature p-type thermoelectric material CeFe4Sb12 and possibly other, lower-temperature p-type thermoelectric materials. Interest in Yb14MnSb11 as a candidate high-temperature thermoelectric material was prompted in part by its unique electronic properties and complex crystalline structure, which place it in a class somewhere between (1) a class of semiconducting valence compounds known in the art as Zintl compounds and (2) the class of intermetallic compounds. From the perspective of chemistry, this classification of Yb14MnSb11 provides a first indication of a potentially rich library of compounds, the thermoelectric properties of which can be easily optimized. The concepts of the thermoelectric figure of merit and the thermoelectric compatibility factor are discussed in Compatibility of Segments of Thermo - electric Generators (NPO-30798), which appears on page 55. The traditional thermoelectric figure of merit, Z, is defined by the equation Z = alpha sup 2/rho K, where alpha is the Seebeck coefficient, rho is the electrical resistivity, and k is the thermal conductivity.

Correlation between defect transition levels and thermoelectric operational temperature of doped CrSi2

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Abhishek; Pandey, Tribhuwan

2014-03-01

The performance of a thermoelectric material is quantified by figure of merit ZT. The challenge in achieving high ZT value requires simultaneously high thermopower, high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity at optimal carrier concentration. So far doping is the most versatile approach used for modifying thermoelectric properties. Previous studies have shown that doping can significantly improve the thermoelectric performance, however the tuning the operating temperature of a thermoelectric device is a main issue. Using first principles density functional theory, we report for CrSi2, a linear relationship between thermodynamic charge state transition levels of defects and temperature at which thermopower peaks. We show for doped CrSi2 that the peak of thermopower occurs at the temperature Tm, which corresponds to the position of defect transition level. Therefore, by modifying the defect transition level, a thermoelectric material with a given operational temperature can be designed. The authors thankfully acknowledge support from ADA under NpMASS.

The preparation and thermoelectric properties of molten salt electrodeposited boron wafers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumashiro, Y.; Ozaki, S.; Sato, K.; Kataoka, Y.; Hirata, K.; Yokoyama, T.; Nagatani, S.; Kajiyama, K.

2004-01-01

We have prepared electrodeposited boron wafer by molten salts with KBF 4 -KF at 680 deg. C using graphite crucible for anode and silicon wafer and nickel plate for cathodes. Experiments were performed by various molar ratios KBF 4 /KF and current densities. Amorphous p-type boron wafers with purity 87% was deposited on nickel plate for 1 h. Thermal diffusivity by ring-flash method and heat capacity by DSC method produced thermal conductivity showing amorphous behavior in the entire temperature range. The systematical results on thermoelectric properties were obtained for the wafers prepared with KBF 4 -KF (66-34 mol%) under various current densities in the range 1-2 A/cm 2 . The temperature dependencies of electrical conductivity showed thermal activated type with activation energy of 0.5 eV. Thermoelectric power tended to increase with increasing temperature up to high temperatures with high values of (1-10) mV/K. Thermoelectric figure-of-merit was 10 -4 /K at high temperatures. Estimated efficiency of thermoelectric energy conversion would be calculated to be 4-5%

La 1-x Ca x MnO 3 semiconducting nanostructures: morphology and thermoelectric properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Culebras, Mario; Torán, Raquel; Gómez, Clara M; Cantarero, Andrés

2014-01-01

Semiconducting metallic oxides, especially perosvkite materials, are great candidates for thermoelectric applications due to several advantages over traditionally metallic alloys such as low production costs and high chemical stability at high temperatures. Nanostructuration can be the key to develop highly efficient thermoelectric materials. In this work, La 1-x Ca x MnO 3 perosvkite nanostructures with Ca as a dopant have been synthesized by the hydrothermal method to be used in thermoelectric applications at room temperature. Several heat treatments have been made in all samples, leading to a change in their morphology and thermoelectric properties. The best thermoelectric efficiency has been obtained for a Ca content of x=0.5. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient are strongly related to the calcium content.

Chemical Potential Tuning and Enhancement of Thermoelectric Properties in Indium Selenides.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhyee, Jong-Soo; Kim, Jin Hee

2015-03-20

Researchers have long been searching for the materials to enhance thermoelectric performance in terms of nano scale approach in order to realize phonon-glass-electron-crystal and quantum confinement effects. Peierls distortion can be a pathway to enhance thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT by employing natural nano-wire-like electronic and thermal transport. The phonon-softening known as Kohn anomaly, and Peierls lattice distortion decrease phonon energy and increase phonon scattering, respectively, and, as a result, they lower thermal conductivity. The quasi-one-dimensional electrical transport from anisotropic band structure ensures high Seebeck coefficient in Indium Selenide. The routes for high ZT materials development of In₄Se₃ - δ are discussed from quasi-one-dimensional property and electronic band structure calculation to materials synthesis, crystal growth, and their thermoelectric properties investigations. The thermoelectric properties of In₄Se₃ - δ can be enhanced by electron doping, as suggested from the Boltzmann transport calculation. Regarding the enhancement of chemical potential, the chlorine doped In₄Se₃ - δ Cl 0.03 compound exhibits high ZT over a wide temperature range and shows state-of-the-art thermoelectric performance of ZT = 1.53 at 450 °C as an n -type material. It was proven that multiple elements doping can enhance chemical potential further. Here, we discuss the recent progress on the enhancement of thermoelectric properties in Indium Selenides by increasing chemical potential.

Thermoelectric properties and performance of flexible reduced graphene oxide films up to 3,000 K

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Tian; Pickel, Andrea D.; Yao, Yonggang; Chen, Yanan; Zeng, Yuqiang; Lacey, Steven D.; Li, Yiju; Wang, Yilin; Dai, Jiaqi; Wang, Yanbin; Yang, Bao; Fuhrer, Michael S.; Marconnet, Amy; Dames, Chris; Drew, Dennis H.; Hu, Liangbing

2018-02-01

The development of ultrahigh-temperature thermoelectric materials could enable thermoelectric topping of combustion power cycles as well as extending the range of direct thermoelectric power generation in concentrated solar power. However, thermoelectric operation temperatures have been restricted to under 1,500 K due to the lack of suitable materials. Here, we demonstrate a thermoelectric conversion material based on high-temperature reduced graphene oxide nanosheets that can perform reliably up to 3,000 K. After a reduction treatment at 3,300 K, the nanosheet film exhibits an increased conductivity to 4,000 S cm-1 at 3,000 K and a high power factor S2σ = 54.5 µW cm-1 K-2. We report measurements characterizing the film's thermoelectric properties up to 3,000 K. The reduced graphene oxide film also exhibits a high broadband radiation absorbance and can act as both a radiative receiver and a thermoelectric generator. The printable, lightweight and flexible film is attractive for system integration and scalable manufacturing.

Temperature dependent thermoelectric property of reduced graphene oxide-polyaniline composite

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitra, Mousumi, E-mail: mousumimitrabesu@gmail.com; Banerjee, Dipali, E-mail: dipalibanerjeebesu@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Howrah-711103 (India); Kargupta, Kajari, E-mail: karguptakajari2010@gmail.com [Department of Chemical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata (India); Ganguly, Saibal, E-mail: gangulysaibal2011@gmail.com [Chemical Engineering department, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Perak, Tronoh (Malaysia)

2016-05-06

A composite material of reduced graphene oxide (rG) nanosheets with polyaniline (PANI) protonated by 5-sulfosalicylic acid has been synthesized via in situ oxidative polymerization method. The morphological and spectral characterizations have been done using FESEM and XRD measurements. The thermoelectric (TE) properties of the reduced graphene oxide-polyaniline composite (rG-P) has been studied in the temperature range from 300-400 K. The electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient of rG-P is higher than the of pure PANI, while the thermal conductivity of the composite still keeps much low value ensuing an increase in the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) in the whole temperature range.

High Temperature Thermoelectric Materials for Waste Heat Regeneration

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) January 2013 2. REPORT TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE High Temperature...National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) deep space explorations, which use radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) to produce...their octahedral voids (shown in figure 10a) with large rare- earth atoms to reduce their lattice conductivity (20). Ions can also be inserted to

High-temperature resistivity and thermoelectric properties of coupled substituted Ca3Co2O6

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meenakshisundaram Senthilkumar and Rajagopalan Vijayaraghavan

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Polycrystalline samples of Ca3−xNaxCo2−xMnxO6 (x=0.0–0.5 have been prepared by the sol-gel cum combustion method using sucrose in order to investigate the effects of the coupled substitution of Na and Mn on Ca and Co sites on the transport properties of Ca3Co2O6(Co326. The products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder x-ray diffraction (XRD, thermogravimetry (TGA, differential thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy. XRD patterns reveal the formation of single-phase products up to x=0.5. Coupled substitution increases the solubility of both Na and Mn on Ca and Co sites, respectively, in contrast to the limited solubility of Na and Mn (x=0.2 when separately substituted. TGA confirms the formation of the Ca3Co2O6 phase at temperatures ~720 °C. The grain size of the parent and substituted products is in the range 150–250 nm. Electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient were measured in the temperature range 300–800 K. Resistivity shows semiconducting behavior for all the compositions, particularly in the low-temperature regime. The Seebeck coefficient increases with temperature throughout the measured temperature range for all compositions. The maximum Seebeck coefficient (200 μV K−1 is observed for x=0.5 at 825 K, and this composition may be optimal for high-temperature thermoelectric applications.

Thermoelectric properties of WSi{sub 2}–Si{sub x}Ge{sub 1−x} composites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dynys, F.W.; Sayir, A. [NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135 (United States); Mackey, J., E-mail: jam151@zips.uakron.edu [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325 (United States); Sehirlioglu, A. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106 (United States)

2014-08-01

Highlights: • We explore a novel W/Si/Ge composite system for thermoelectric applications. • The influence of crucible selection on electrical properties is investigated. • Introduction of W can reduce the expensive Ge component of the alloy. - Abstract: Thermoelectric properties of the W/Si/Ge alloy system have been investigated with varying concentration levels of germanium and tungsten. The alloys were fabricated by directional solidification with the Bridgman method using boron nitride and fused silica crucibles. The effect of crucible contamination was investigated and found to result in doping the system to suitable levels for thermoelectric applications. The system has been demonstrated as a suitable high temperature p-type thermoelectric material exhibiting high power factors, >3000 μW/m K{sup 2}. Seebeck coefficients of the system are on the order of +300 μV/K and electrical conductivities of 2.8 × 10{sup 4} S/m at the optimum operating temperature. The best composition, 0.9 at% W/9.3 at% Ge, achieved a figure of merit comparable to RTG values over the temperature range of interest. The results suggest that W addition can reduce the use of expensive Ge component of the alloy. Reported are the details of processing conditions, microstructure development, and temperature dependent thermoelectric properties. The material system was stable at the temperatures required for NASA’s radioisotope thermoelectric generators.

High-temperature and high-power-density nanostructured thermoelectric generator for automotive waste heat recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yanliang; Cleary, Martin; Wang, Xiaowei; Kempf, Nicholas; Schoensee, Luke; Yang, Jian; Joshi, Giri; Meda, Lakshmikanth

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A thermoelectric generator (TEG) is fabricated using nanostructured half-Heusler materials. • The TE unicouple devices produce superior power density above 5 W/cm"2. • A TEG system with over 1 kW power output is demonstrated by recovering automotive waste heat. - Abstract: Given increasing energy use as well as decreasing fossil fuel sources worldwide, it is no surprise that interest in promoting energy efficiency through waste heat recovery is also increasing. Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are one of the most promising pathways for waste heat recovery. Despite recent thermoelectric efficiency improvement in nanostructured materials, a variety of challenges have nevertheless resulted in few demonstrations of these materials for large-scale waste heat recovery. Here we demonstrate a high-performance TEG by combining high-efficiency nanostructured bulk materials with a novel direct metal brazing process to increase the device operating temperature. A unicouple device generates a high power density of 5.26 W cm"−"2 with a 500 °C temperature difference between hot and cold sides. A 1 kW TEG system is experimentally demonstrated by recovering the exhaust waste heat from an automotive diesel engine. The TEG system operated with a 2.1% heat-to-electricity efficiency under the average temperature difference of 339 °C between the TEG hot- and cold-side surfaces at a 550 °C exhaust temperature. The high-performance TEG reported here open up opportunities to use TEGs for energy harvesting and power generation applications.

About thermo-electric properties of bismuth telluride doped by gadolinium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akperov, M.M.; Ismailov, Sh.S.; Shukyurova, A.A.

2004-01-01

Results of study of the Gd impurities effect on the bismuth telluride thermo-electric properties are presented. The experiment was carried out within the temperature range T=300-700 K. It is determined, that at temperature increase the energy level is appreciably closing up to bismuth telluride forbidden zone which makes up 0.16-0.24 eV. Such anomalous energy properties of gadolinium in telluride affect on material thermoelectric properties

Structural stability, dynamical stability, thermoelectric properties, and elastic properties of GeTe at high pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Kagdada, Hardik L.; Jha, Prafulla K.; Śpiewak, Piotr; Kurzydłowski, Krzysztof J.

2018-04-01

The stability of GeTe in rhombohedral (R 3 m ), face centred cubic (F m 3 m ), and simple cubic (P m 3 m ) phases has been studied using density functional perturbation theory. The rhombohedral phase of GeTe is dynamically stable at 0 GPa, while F m 3 m and P m 3 m phases are stable at 3.1 and 33 GPa, respectively. The pressure-dependent phonon modes are observed in F m 3 m and P m 3 m phases at Γ and M points, respectively. The electronic and the thermoelectric properties have been investigated for the stable phases of GeTe. The electronic band gap for rhombohedral and F m 3 m phases of GeTe has been observed as 0.66 and 0.17 eV, respectively, while the P m 3 m phase shows metallic behavior. We have used the Boltzmann transport equation under a rigid band approximation and constant relaxation time approximation as implemented in boltztrap code for the calculation of thermoelectric properties of GeTe. The metallic behavior of P m 3 m phase gives a very low value of Seebeck coefficient compared to the other two phases as a function of temperature and the chemical potential μ. It is observed that the rhombohedral phase of GeTe exhibits higher thermoelectric performance. Due to the metallic nature of P m 3 m phase, negligible thermoelectric performance is observed compared to R 3 m and F m 3 m -GeTe. The calculated lattice thermal conductivities are low for F m 3 m -GeTe and high for R 3 m -GeTe. At the relatively higher temperature of 1350 K, the figure of merit ZT is found to be 0.7 for rhombohedral GeTe. The elastic constants satisfy the Born stability criteria for all three phases. The rhombohedral and F m 3 m phases exhibits brittleness and the P m 3 m phase shows ductile nature.

Enhanced high temperature thermoelectric response of sulphuric acid treated conducting polymer thin films

KAUST Repository

Sarath Kumar, S. R.; Kurra, Narendra; Alshareef, Husam N.

2015-01-01

We report the high temperature thermoelectric properties of solution processed pristine and sulphuric acid treated poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (or PEDOT:PSS) films. The acid treatment is shown to simultaneously enhance the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the metal-like films, resulting in a five-fold increase in thermoelectric power factor (0.052 W/m. K ) at 460 K, compared to the pristine film. By using atomic force micrographs, Raman and impedance spectra and using a series heterogeneous model for electrical conductivity, we demonstrate that acid treatment results in the removal of PSS from the films, leading to the quenching of accumulated charge-induced energy barriers that prevent hopping conduction. The continuous removal of PSS with duration of acid treatment also alters the local band structure of PEDOT:PSS, resulting in simultaneous enhancement in Seebeck coefficient.

Enhanced high temperature thermoelectric response of sulphuric acid treated conducting polymer thin films

KAUST Repository

Sarath Kumar, S. R.

2015-11-24

We report the high temperature thermoelectric properties of solution processed pristine and sulphuric acid treated poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (or PEDOT:PSS) films. The acid treatment is shown to simultaneously enhance the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the metal-like films, resulting in a five-fold increase in thermoelectric power factor (0.052 W/m. K ) at 460 K, compared to the pristine film. By using atomic force micrographs, Raman and impedance spectra and using a series heterogeneous model for electrical conductivity, we demonstrate that acid treatment results in the removal of PSS from the films, leading to the quenching of accumulated charge-induced energy barriers that prevent hopping conduction. The continuous removal of PSS with duration of acid treatment also alters the local band structure of PEDOT:PSS, resulting in simultaneous enhancement in Seebeck coefficient.

Chemical Potential Tuning and Enhancement of Thermoelectric Properties in Indium Selenides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jong-Soo Rhyee

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Researchers have long been searching for the materials to enhance thermoelectric performance in terms of nano scale approach in order to realize phonon-glass-electron-crystal and quantum confinement effects. Peierls distortion can be a pathway to enhance thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT by employing natural nano-wire-like electronic and thermal transport. The phonon-softening known as Kohn anomaly, and Peierls lattice distortion decrease phonon energy and increase phonon scattering, respectively, and, as a result, they lower thermal conductivity. The quasi-one-dimensional electrical transport from anisotropic band structure ensures high Seebeck coefficient in Indium Selenide. The routes for high ZT materials development of In4Se3−δ are discussed from quasi-one-dimensional property and electronic band structure calculation to materials synthesis, crystal growth, and their thermoelectric properties investigations. The thermoelectric properties of In4Se3−δ can be enhanced by electron doping, as suggested from the Boltzmann transport calculation. Regarding the enhancement of chemical potential, the chlorine doped In4Se3−δCl0.03 compound exhibits high ZT over a wide temperature range and shows state-of-the-art thermoelectric performance of ZT = 1.53 at 450 °C as an n-type material. It was proven that multiple elements doping can enhance chemical potential further. Here, we discuss the recent progress on the enhancement of thermoelectric properties in Indium Selenides by increasing chemical potential.

Analytic modeling of a high temperature thermoelectric module for wireless sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Köhler, J E; Staaf, L G H; Palmqvist, A E C; Enoksson, P

2014-01-01

A novel high temperature thermoelectric module with thermoelectric materials never before combined in a module is currently researched. The module placement in the cooling channels of a jet engine where the cold side will be cooled by high flow cooling air (550° C) and the hot side will be at the wall (800° C). The aim of the project is to drastically reduce the length of the wires by replacing wired sensors with wireless sensors and power these (3-10mW) with thermoelectric harvesters. To optimize the design for the temperature range and the environment an analytic model was constructed. Using known models for this purpose was not possible for this project, as many of the models have too many assumptions, e.g. that the temperature gradient is relatively low, that thick electrodes with very low resistance can be used, that the heat transfer through the base plates are perfect or that the aim of the design is to maximize the efficiency. The analytical model in this paper is a combination of several known models with the aim to examine what materials to use in this specific environment to achieve the highest possible specific power (mW/g)

Thermoelectric properties of layered antiferromagnetic CuCrSe2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tewari, Girish C.; Tripathi, T.S.; Yamauchi, Hisao; Karppinen, Maarit

2014-01-01

Here we study thermoelectric and magnetic properties of CuCrSe 2 samples sintered at various temperatures. Structural analysis with XRD shows an order-disorder transition for Cr atoms when the sintering temperature is increased above 1273 K. Metal-like electrical resistivity and anomalously large Seebeck coefficient are found about room temperature. Analysis of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the partially-disordered phase suggests hopping conduction of charge carriers. For both the ordered and disordered phases magnetic susceptibility follows Curie–Weiss temperature dependence at high temperatures above 150 K and shows an antiferromagnetic transition around 55 K. For the disordered phase, the effective magnetic moment is determined at 3.62 μ B ; this low value in comparison to the spin only value for Cr 3+ of 3.89 μ B indicates spin fluctuations in the paramagnetic state. The thermal conductivity in these phases is low and dominated by the lattice contribution. Values for the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) at room temperature are estimated to be 0.17 and 0.05 for the ordered and disordered phases, respectively. - Highlights: • Thermoelectric and magnetic properties of CuCrSe 2 samples are investigated. • The properties strongly depend on the degree of order of chromium atoms. • The degree of order is controlled by the sintering temperature. • Room-temperature figure of merit is estimated at 0.17 for the ordered phase. • For the disordered phase the figure of merit is lower

Ambient growth of highly oriented Cu{sub 2}S dendrites of superior thermoelectric behaviour

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mulla, Rafiq; Rabinal, M.K., E-mail: mkrabinal@yahoo.com

2017-03-01

Highlights: • A simple and ambient route to synthesize highly oriented dendrites of copper sulfide is proposed. • Remarkable enhancement is observed in Seebeck coefficient by room temperature, solution phase doping. • High thermoelectric power factor is observed at room temperature, indicating promising behaviour. - Abstract: Low-cost, non-toxic and efficient material is an urgent need for the thermoelectric energy conversion. Here, a rapid and ambient chemical route has been developed to grow dense and highly oriented dendrites of copper sulfide (Cu{sub 2}S) on copper substrate in a very simple approach, these films are uniform and covered with dense nanosheets. Room temperature solution doping of copper ions is carried out to improve thermoelectric performance. The Seebeck coefficient increased from ∼100 to 415 μV K{sup −1} with a slight decrease in electrical conductivity, this gives a high power factor (S{sup 2}σ) of about ∼400 μW m{sup −1} K{sup −2}. The improved thermoelectric properties in these films are accounted for resonant energy level doping and high phonon scattering. Such films with improved thermoelectric behaviour can be promising materials for energy conversion. The earth abundant, low cost, non toxic with a good thermoelectric property makes copper sulfide as a promising thermoelectric material for future applications.

Encapsulation of high temperature thermoelectric modules

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salvador, James R.; Sakamoto, Jeffrey; Park, Youngsam

2017-07-11

A method of encapsulating a thermoelectric device and its associated thermoelectric elements in an inert atmosphere and a thermoelectric device fabricated by such method are described. These thermoelectric devices may be intended for use under conditions which would otherwise promote oxidation of the thermoelectric elements. The capsule is formed by securing a suitably-sized thin-walled strip of oxidation-resistant metal to the ceramic substrates which support the thermoelectric elements. The thin-walled metal strip is positioned to enclose the edges of the thermoelectric device and is secured to the substrates using gap-filling materials. The strip, substrates and gap-filling materials cooperatively encapsulate the thermoelectric elements and exclude oxygen and water vapor from atmospheric air so that the elements may be maintained in an inert, non-oxidizing environment.

Thermoelectric refrigerator having improved temperature stabilization means

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Falco, C.M.

1982-01-01

A control system for thermoelectric refrigerators is disclosed. The thermoelectric refrigerator includes at least one thermoelectric element that undergoes a first order change at a predetermined critical temperature. The element functions as a thermoelectric refrigerator element above the critical temperature, but discontinuously ceases to function as a thermoelectric refrigerator element below the critical temperature. One example of such an arrangement includes thermoelectric refrigerator elements which are superconductors. The transition temperature of one of the superconductor elements is selected as the temperature control point of the refrigerator. When the refrigerator attempts to cool below the point, the metals become superconductors losing their ability to perform as a thermoelectric refrigerator. An extremely accurate, first-order control is realized

WS2 as an excellent high-temperature thermoelectric material

KAUST Repository

Gandi, Appala; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

2014-01-01

The potential of WS2 as a thermoelectric material is assessed. The electronic contribution to the thermoelectric properties is calculated within the constant relaxation time approximation from the electronic band structure, whereas the lattice contribution is evaluated using self-consistently calculated phonon lifetimes. In addition, the dependence of the lattice thermal conductivity on the mean free path of the phonons is determined.

WS2 as an excellent high-temperature thermoelectric material

KAUST Repository

Gandi, Appala

2014-11-25

The potential of WS2 as a thermoelectric material is assessed. The electronic contribution to the thermoelectric properties is calculated within the constant relaxation time approximation from the electronic band structure, whereas the lattice contribution is evaluated using self-consistently calculated phonon lifetimes. In addition, the dependence of the lattice thermal conductivity on the mean free path of the phonons is determined.

Thermoelectric transport properties of high mobility organic semiconductors

Science.gov (United States)

Venkateshvaran, Deepak; Broch, Katharina; Warwick, Chris N.; Sirringhaus, Henning

2016-09-01

Transport in organic semiconductors has traditionally been investigated using measurements of the temperature and gate voltage dependent mobility of charge carriers within the channel of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). In such measurements, the behavior of charge carrier mobility with temperature and gate voltage, studied together with carrier activation energies, provide a metric to quantify the extent of disorder within these van der Waals bonded materials. In addition to the mobility and activation energy, another potent but often-overlooked transport coefficient useful in understanding disorder is the Seebeck coefficient (also known as thermoelectric power). Fundamentally, the Seebeck coefficient represents the entropy per charge carrier in the solid state, and thus proves powerful in distinguishing materials in which charge carriers move freely from those where a high degree of disorder causes the induced carriers to remain trapped. This paper briefly covers the recent highlights in the field of organic thermoelectrics, showing how significant strides have been made both from an applied standpoint as well as from a viewpoint of fundamental thermoelectric transport physics. It shall be illustrated how thermoelectric transport parameters in organic semiconductors can be tuned over a significant range, and how this tunability facilitates an enhanced performance for heat-to-electricity conversion as well as quantifies energetic disorder and the nature of the density of states (DOS). The work of the authors shall be spotlighted in this context, illustrating how Seebeck coefficient measurements in the polymer indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole (IDTBT) known for its ultra-low degree of torsion within the polymer backbone, has a trend consistent with low disorder. 1 Finally, using examples of the small molecules C8-BTBT and C10-DNTT, it shall be discussed how the Seebeck coefficient can aid the estimation of the density and distribution of trap states

Effect of high temperature annealing on the thermoelectric properties of GaP doped SiGe

Science.gov (United States)

Vandersande, Jan W.; Wood, Charles; Draper, Susan

1987-01-01

Silicon-germanium alloys doped with GaP are used for thermoelectric energy conversion in the temperature range 300-1000 C. The conversion efficiency depends on Z = S-squared/rho lambda, a material's parameter (the figure of merit), where S is the Seebeck coefficient, rho is the electrical resistivity and lambda is the thermal conductivity. The annealing of several samples in the temperature range of 1100-1300 C resulted in the power factor P (= S-squared/rho) increasing with increased annealing temperature. This increase in P was due to a decrease in rho which was not completely offset by a drop in S-squared suggesting that other changes besides that in the carrier concentration took place. SEM and EDX analysis of the samples indicated the formation of a Ga-P-Ge rich phase as a result of the annealing. It is speculated that this phase is associated with the improved properties. Several reasons which could account for the improvement in the power factor of annealed GaP doped SiGe are given.

First-principles study on doping and temperature dependence of thermoelectric property of Bi2S3 thermoelectric material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Donglin; Hu, Chenguo; Zhang, Cuiling

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: The direction-induced ZT is found. At ZZ direction and n = 1.47 × 10 19 cm −3 , the ZT can reach maximal value, 0.36, which is three times as much as maximal laboratorial value. This result matches well the analysis of electron effective mass. Highlights: ► Electrical transportations of Bi 2 S 3 depend on the concentration and temperature. ► The direction-induced ZT is found. ► At ZZ direction and n = 1.47 × 10 19 cm −3 , the ZT can reach maximal value, 0.36. ► The maximal ZT value is three times as much as maximal laboratorial value. ► By doping and temperature tuning, Bi 2 S 3 is a promising thermoelectric material. - Abstract: The electronic structure and thermoelectric property of Bi 2 S 3 are investigated. The electron and hole effective mass of Bi 2 S 3 is analyzed in detail, from which we find that the thermoelectric transportation varies in different directions in Bi 2 S 3 crystal. Along ac plane the higher figure of merit (ZT) could be achieved. For n-type doped Bi 2 S 3 , the optimal doping concentration is found in the range of (1.0–5.0) × 10 19 cm −3 , in which the maximal ZT reaches 0.21 at 900 K, but along ZZ direction, the maximal ZT reaches 0.36. These findings provide a new understanding of thermoelectricity-dependent structure factors and improving ZT ways. The donor concentration N increases as T increases at one bar of pressure under a suitable chemical potential μ, but above this chemical potential μ, the donor concentration N keeps a constant

High-temperature thermoelectric behavior of lead telluride

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The central problem in thermoelectric material research is the selection of ... temperature range (400–1000 K), and bismuth telluride-based materials .... parent from the results that band non-parabolicity has a significant effect on the .... M P Singh thankfully acknowledges financial assistance from the Council of Scien-.

High thermoelectric properties of (Sb, Bi)2Te3 nanowire arrays by tilt-structure engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Ming; Hao, Yanming; Deng, Yuan; Chen, Jingyi

2018-06-01

In this paper, we present an innovative tilt-structure design concept for (Sb, Bi)2Te3 nanowire array assembled by high-quality nanowires with well oriented growth, utilizing a simple vacuum thermal evaporation technique. The unusual tilt-structure (Sb, Bi)2Te3 nanowire array with a tilted angle of 45° exhibits a high thermoelectric dimensionless figure-of-merit ZT = 1.72 at room temperature. The relatively high ZT value in contrast to that of previously reported (Sb, Bi)2Te3 materials and the vertical (Sb, Bi)2Te3 nanowire arrays evidently reveals the crucial role of the unique tilt-structure in favorably influencing carrier and phonon transport properties, resulting in a significantly improved ZT value. The transport mechanism of such tilt-structure is proposed and investigated. This method opens a new approach to optimize nano-structure in thin films for next-generation thermoelectric materials and devices.

Contrastive thermoelectric properties of strained SnSe crystals from the first-principles calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Yu; Cheng, Feng; Li, Decong; Deng, Shuping; Chen, Zhong; Sun, Luqi; Liu, Wenting; Shen, Lanxian; Deng, Shukang

2018-06-01

SnSe is a promising thermoelectric material with a record high dimensionless figure of merit ZT at high temperature ∼923 K. However, the ZT values for low-Temperature Pnma phase SnSe are just 0.1-0.9. Here, we use First-principle combine with Boltzmann transport theory methods to study the effect of tensile and compressible strain on the thermoelectric transport properties. The power factor of SnSe with -4% strain have a large boost along b and c directions of 7.7 and 3.9 μW cm-1 K-2, respectively, which are 2.5 and 2 times as large as those pristine SnSe. The charge density distributions reveal that the overlap of wave function has significant change due to the changed bond lengths and bond angles under different strain, which lead to the change of band gap and band dispersion. Our work provides a new effective strategy to enhance the thermoelectric properties of materials.

The Effects of Doping and Processing on the Thermoelectric Properties of Platinum Diantimonide Based Materials for Cryogenic Peltier Cooling Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Waldrop, Spencer Laine

The study of thermoelectrics is nearly two centuries old. In that time a large number of applications have been discovered for these materials which are capable of transforming thermal energy into electricity or using electrical work to create a thermal gradient. Current use of thermoelectric materials is in very niche applications with contemporary focus being upon their capability to recover waste heat. A relatively undeveloped region for thermoelectric application is focused upon Peltier cooling at low temperatures. Materials based on bismuth telluride semiconductors have been the gold standard for close to room temperature applications for over sixty years. For applications below room temperature, semiconductors based on bismuth antimony reign supreme with few other possible materials. The cause of this diculty in developing new, higher performing materials is due to the interplay of the thermoelectric properties of these materials. The Seebeck coecient, which characterizes the phenomenon of the conversion of heat to electricity, the electrical conductivity, and the thermal conductivity are all interconnected properties of a material which must be optimized to generate a high performance thermoelectric material. While for above room temperature applications many advancements have been made in the creation of highly ecient thermoelectric materials, the below room temperature regime has been stymied by ill-suited properties, low operating temperatures, and a lack of research. The focus of this work has been to investigate and optimize the thermoelectric properties of platinum diantimonide, PtSb2, a nearly zero gap semiconductor. The electronic properties of PtSb2 are very favorable for cryogenic Peltier applications, as it exhibits good conductivity and large Seebeck coecient below 200 K. It is shown that both n- and p-type doping may be applied to this compound to further improve its electronic properties. Through both solid solution formation and processing

High performance p-type half-Heusler thermoelectric materials

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Junjie; Xia, Kaiyang; Zhao, Xinbing; Zhu, Tiejun

2018-03-01

Half-Heusler compounds, which possess robust mechanical strength, good high temperature thermal stability and multifaceted physical properties, have been verified as a class of promising thermoelectric materials. During the last two decades, great progress has been made in half-Heusler thermoelectrics. In this review, we summarize some representative work of p-type half-Heusler materials, the thermoelectric performance of which has been remarkably enhanced in recent years. We introduce the features of the crystal and electronic structures of half-Heusler compounds, and successful strategies for optimizing electrical and thermal transport in the p-type RFeSb (R  =  V, Nb, Ta) and MCoSb (M  =  Ti, Zr, Hf) based systems, including band engineering, the formation of solid solutions and hierarchical phonon scattering. The outlook for future research directions of half-Heusler thermoelectrics is also presented.

Enhanced thermoelectric properties of bismuth telluride-organic hybrid films via graphene doping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahman, Airul Azha Abd; Umar, Akrajas Ali; Salleh, Muhamad Mat; Chen, Xiaomei; Oyama, Munetaka

2016-01-01

The thermoelectric properties of graphene-doped bismuth telluride-PEDOT:PSS-glycerol (hybrid) films were investigated. Prior to the study, p-type and n-type hybrid films were prepared by doping the PEDOT:PSS-glycerol with the p- and n-type bismuth telluride. Graphene-doped hybrid films were prepared by adding graphene particles of concentration ranging from 0.02 to 0.1 wt% into the hybrid films. Films of graphene-doped hybrid system were then prepared on a glass substrate using a spin-coating technique. It was found that the electrical conductivity of the hybrid films increases with the increasing of the graphene-dopant concentration and optimum at 0.08 wt% for both p- and n-type films, namely 400 and 195 S/cm, respectively. Further increasing in the concentration caused a decreasing in the electrical conductivity. Analysis of the thermoelectric properties of the films obtained that the p-type film exhibited significant improvement in its thermoelectric properties, where the thermoelectric properties increased with the increasing of the doping concentration. Meanwhile, for the case of n-type film, graphene doping showed a negative effect to the thermoelectrical properties, where the thermoelectric properties decreased with the increasing of doping concentration. Seebeck coefficient (and power factor) for optimum p-type and n-type hybrid thin films, i.e., doped with 0.08 wt% of graphene, is 20 μV/K (and 160 μW m -1 K -2 ) and 10 μV/K (and 19.5 μW m -1 K -2 ), respectively. The obtained electrical conductivity and thermoelectric properties of graphene-doped hybrid film are interestingly several orders higher than the pristine hybrid films. A thermocouple device fabricated utilizing the p- and n-type graphene-doped hybrid films can generate an electric voltage as high as 2.2 mV under a temperature difference between the hot-side and the cold-side terminal as only low as 55 K. This is equivalent to the output power as high as 24.2 nW (for output load as high as 50

Structural, magnetic and high-temperature thermoelectric properties of La0.4Bi0.4Ca0.2Mn1-xCoxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) perovskites

Science.gov (United States)

Hira, Uzma; Sher, Falak

2018-04-01

In this study, we have investigated the structural, magnetic and thermoelectric properties of La0.4Bi0.4Ca0.2Mn1-xCoxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) manganites. The crystallographic parameters of samples were determined by the Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction data. It was observed that Co doping results in change of crystal structures from orthorhombic (space group: Pbnm) to rhombohedral (space group: R-3c) symmetry. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show smooth, clean and densified structures, depicting good crystallinity of samples. The zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) magnetization data were collected in the temperature range 5 to 300 K under an applied magnetic field of 0.1 Tesla. The analysis of temperature dependent magnetization data reveals all samples to be ferromagnetic with Curie temperatures around ∼77 K. The magnetic hysteresis loops, collected at 5 K, show that the saturation magnetization (MS) values decrease from 43 emu/g to 14 emu/g with increase in Co doping. The high temperature thermoelectric properties of all samples are characteristic of a semiconducting behavior, the small polaron hopping model fitting well with the temperature dependent electrical resistivity (ρ) and thermopower (S) data. The thermopower values change sign from positive to negative as temperature is increased from 313 K to 680 K. The maximum thermoelectric power factor (PF = S2/ρ) obtained for x = 0.3 sample at 313 K is 4.60 μW/mK2, is much higher than for the undoped sample.

High efficiency semimetal/semiconductor nanocomposite thermoelectric materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zide, J. M. O.; Bahk, J.-H.; Zeng, G.; Bowers, J. E.; Singh, R.; Zebarjadi, M.; Bian, Z. X.; Shakouri, A.; Lu, H.; Gossard, A. C.; Feser, J. P.; Xu, D.; Singer, S. L.; Majumdar, A.

2010-01-01

Rare-earth impurities in III-V semiconductors are known to self-assemble into semimetallic nanoparticles which have been shown to reduce lattice thermal conductivity without harming electronic properties. Here, we show that adjusting the band alignment between ErAs and In 0.53 Ga 0.47-X Al X As allows energy-dependent scattering of carriers that can be used to increase thermoelectric power factor. Films of various Al concentrations were grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and thermoelectric properties were characterized. We observe concurrent increases in electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient with increasing temperatures, demonstrating energy-dependent scattering. We report the first simultaneous power factor enhancement and thermal conductivity reduction in a nanoparticle-based system, resulting in a high figure of merit, ZT=1.33 at 800 K.

A Chemical, High-Temperature Way to Ag1.9Te via Quasi-Topotactic Reaction of Stuetzite-type Ag1.54Te: Structural and Thermoelectric Properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Baumer, Franziska; Nilges, Tom

2017-11-20

Semiconducting silver tellurides gained reasonable interest in the past years due to its thermoelectric, magneto-caloric, and nonlinear optic properties. Nanostructuring has been frequently used to address quantum-confinement effects of minerals and synthetic compounds in the Ag-Te system. Here, we report on the structural, thermal, and thermoelectric properties of stuetzite-like Ag 1.54 Te (or Ag 4.63 Te 3 ) and Ag 1.9 Te. By a quasi-topotactic reaction upon tellurium evaporation Ag 1.54 Te can be transferred to Ag 1.9 Te after heat treatment. Crystal structures, thermal and thermoelectric properties of stuetzite-like Ag 1.54 Te (or Ag 4.63 Te 3 ) and Ag 1.9 Te were determined by ex situ and in situ experiments. This method represents an elegant chemical way to Ag 1.9 Te, which was so far only accessible electrochemically via electrochemical removal of silver from the mineral hessite (Ag 2 Te). The mixed conductors show reasonable high total electric conductivities, very low thermal conductivities, and large Seebeck coefficients, which result in a significant high thermoelectric figure of 0.57 at 680 K.

Very High Output Thermoelectric Devices Based on ITO Nanocomposites

Science.gov (United States)

Fralick, Gustave; Gregory, Otto J.

2009-01-01

A material having useful thermoelectric properties was synthesized by combining indium-tin-oxide (ITO) with a NiCoCrAlY alloy/alumina cermet. This material had a very large Seebeck coefficient with electromotive-force-versustemperature behavior that is considered to be excellent with respect to utility in thermocouples and other thermoelectric devices. When deposited in thin-film form, ceramic thermocouples offer advantages over precious-metal (based, variously, on platinum or rhodium) thermocouples that are typically used in gas turbines. Ceramic thermocouples exhibit high melting temperatures, chemical stability at high temperatures, and little or no electromigration. Oxide ceramics also resist oxidation better than metal thermocouples, cost substantially less than precious-metal thermocouples, and, unlike precious-metal thermocouples, do not exert catalytic effects.

Thermoelectricity for future sustainable energy technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weidenkaff Anke

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Thermoelectricity is a general term for a number of effects describing the direct interconversion of heat and electricity. Thermoelectric devices are therefore promising, environmental-friendly alternatives to conventional power generators or cooling units. Since the mid-90s, research on thermoelectric properties and their applications has steadily increased. In the course of years, the development of high-temperature resistant TE materials and devices has emerged as one of the main areas of interest focusing both on basic research and practical applications. A wide range of innovative and cost-efficient material classes has been studied and their properties improved. This has also led to advances in synthesis and metrology. The paper starts out with thermoelectric history, basic effects underlying thermoelectric conversion and selected examples of application. The main part focuses on thermoelectric materials including an outline of the design rules, a review on the most common materials and the feasibility of improved future high-temperature thermoelectric converters.

Temperature and Voltage Offsets in High-ZT Thermoelectrics

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, George S.

2017-10-01

Thermodynamic temperature can take on different meanings. Kinetic temperature is an expectation value and a function of the kinetic energy distribution. Statistical temperature is a parameter of the distribution. Kinetic temperature and statistical temperature, identical in Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics, can differ in other statistics such as those of Fermi-Dirac or Bose-Einstein when a field is present. Thermal equilibrium corresponds to zero statistical temperature gradient, not zero kinetic temperature gradient. Since heat carriers in thermoelectrics are fermions, the difference between these two temperatures may explain voltage and temperature offsets observed during meticulous Seebeck measurements in which the temperature-voltage curve does not go through the origin. In conventional semiconductors, temperature offsets produced by fermionic electrical carriers are not observable because they are shorted by heat phonons in the lattice. In high-ZT materials, however, these offsets have been detected but attributed to faulty laboratory procedures. Additional supporting evidence for spontaneous voltages and temperature gradients includes data collected in epistatic experiments and in the plasma Q-machine. Device fabrication guidelines for testing the hypothesis are suggested including using unipolar junctions stacked in a superlattice, alternating n/n + and p/p + junctions, selecting appropriate dimensions, doping, and loading.

Temperature and Voltage Offsets in High- ZT Thermoelectrics

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, George S.

2018-06-01

Thermodynamic temperature can take on different meanings. Kinetic temperature is an expectation value and a function of the kinetic energy distribution. Statistical temperature is a parameter of the distribution. Kinetic temperature and statistical temperature, identical in Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics, can differ in other statistics such as those of Fermi-Dirac or Bose-Einstein when a field is present. Thermal equilibrium corresponds to zero statistical temperature gradient, not zero kinetic temperature gradient. Since heat carriers in thermoelectrics are fermions, the difference between these two temperatures may explain voltage and temperature offsets observed during meticulous Seebeck measurements in which the temperature-voltage curve does not go through the origin. In conventional semiconductors, temperature offsets produced by fermionic electrical carriers are not observable because they are shorted by heat phonons in the lattice. In high- ZT materials, however, these offsets have been detected but attributed to faulty laboratory procedures. Additional supporting evidence for spontaneous voltages and temperature gradients includes data collected in epistatic experiments and in the plasma Q-machine. Device fabrication guidelines for testing the hypothesis are suggested including using unipolar junctions stacked in a superlattice, alternating n/ n + and p/ p + junctions, selecting appropriate dimensions, doping, and loading.

High-temperature Thermoelectric and Microstructural Characteristics of Ga Substituted on the Co-site in Cobalt-based Oxides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Nong, Ngo; Yanagiya, S.; Sonne, Monica

2011-01-01

The effects of Ga substitution on the Co-site on the high-temperature thermoelectric properties and microstructure are investigated for the misfitlayered Ca3Co4O9 and the complex perovskite-related Sr3RECo4O10.5 (RE = rare earth) cobalt-based oxides. For both systems, substitution of Ga for Co...... results in a simultaneous increase in the Seebeck coefficient (S) and the electrical conductivity (σ), and the influence is more significant in the high temperature region. The power factor (S 2 σ) is thereby remarkably improved by Ga substitution, particularly at high temperatures. Texture factor......0.05O9 shows the best ZT value of 0.45 at 1200 K, which is about 87.5% higher than the nondoped one, a considerable improvement....

Thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects in high-temperature superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huebener, R.P.; Ri, H.C.; Gross, R.; Kober, F.

1992-01-01

In the mixed state of high-temperature superconductors the dominant part of the Seebeck and Nernst effect is due to the thermal diffusion of quasiparticles and vortices, respectively. The authors' understanding of the Seebeck effect is based on the two-fluid counterflow model of Ginzburg and its extension to the mixed state with the presence of vortices. From the Nernst effect the transport entropy of the vortices is obtained. In this paper summarize the recent thermoelectric and thermomagnetic experiments, paying also attention to the role of the Magnus force (Hall effect) and to the thermal fluctuation effects near T c

Research for Brazing Materials of High-Temperature Thermoelectric Modules with CoSb3 Thermoelectric Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yu Seong; Kim, Suk Jun; Kim, Byeong Geun; Lee, Soonil; Seo, Won-Seon; Kim, Il-Ho; Choi, Soon-Mok

2017-05-01

Metallic glass (MG) can be a candidate for an alternative brazing material of high-temperature thermoelectric modules, since we can expect both a lower brazing temperature and a high operating temperature for the junction from the MG brazers. Another advantage of MG powders is their outstanding oxidation resistance, namely, high-temperature durability in atmosphere. We fabricated three compositions of Al-based MGs—Al-Y-Ni, Al-Y-Ni-Co, and Al-Y-Ni-Co-La—by using the melt spinning process, and their T gs were 273°C, 264°C, and 249°C, respectively. The electrical resistivity of the Al-Y-Ni MG ribbon dropped significantly after annealing at 300°C. The electrical resistivity of crystallized Al-Y-Ni reduced down to 0.03 mΩ cm, which is an order of magnitude lower than that of the amorphous one. After the MG ribbons were pulverized to sub-100 μm, the average particle size was about 400 μm.

Plasma synthesis of nanostructures for improved thermoelectric properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petermann, Nils; Hecht, Christian; Schulz, Christof; Wiggers, Hartmut; Stein, Niklas; Schierning, Gabi; Theissmann, Ralf; Stoib, Benedikt; Brandt, Martin S

2011-01-01

The utilization of silicon-based materials for thermoelectrics is studied with respect to the synthesis and processing of doped silicon nanoparticles from gas phase plasma synthesis. It is found that plasma synthesis enables the formation of spherical, highly crystalline and soft-agglomerated materials. We discuss the requirements for the formation of dense sintered bodies, while keeping the crystallite size small. Small particles a few tens of nanometres and below that are easily achievable from plasma synthesis, and a weak surface oxidation, both lead to a pronounced sinter activity about 350 K below the temperature usually needed for the successful densification of silicon. The thermoelectric properties of our sintered materials are comparable to the best results found for nanocrystalline silicon prepared by methods other than plasma synthesis.

Stable and low contact resistance electrical contacts for high temperature SiGe thermoelectric generators

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Bo

2018-04-14

The thermal stability and contact resistance of TaAlN thin films as electrical contacts to SiGe thermoelectric elements are reported. We demonstrate that a sharp interface is maintained after the device annealed at 800°C for over 100h, indicating that no interdiffusion takes place between TaAlN and SiGe. A specific contact resistivity of (2.1±1.3)×10−6Ω-cm2 for p-type SiGe and (2.8±1.6)×10−5 Ω-cm2 for n-type SiGe is demonstrated after the high temperature annealing. These results show that TaAlN is a promising contact material for high temperature thermoelectrics such as SiGe.

Thermoelectric properties of one-dimensional graphene antidot arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, Yonghong; Liang, Qi-Feng; Zhao, Hui; Wu, Chang-Qin; Li, Baowen

2012-01-01

We investigate the thermoelectric properties of one-dimensional (1D) graphene antidot arrays by nonequilibrium Green's function method. We show that by introducing antidots to the pristine graphene nanoribbon the thermal conductance can be reduced greatly while keeping the power factor still high, thus leading to an enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT). Our numerical results indicate that ZT values of 1D antidot graphene arrays can be up to unity, which means the 1D graphene antidot arrays may be promising for thermoelectric applications. -- Highlights: ► We study thermoelectric properties of one-dimensional (1D) graphene antidot arrays. ► Thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 1D antidot arrays can exceed unity. ► ZT of 1D antidot arrays is larger than that of two-dimensional arrays.

Thermoelectric properties of non-stoichiometric lanthanum sulfides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shapiro, E.; Danielson, L.R.

1983-01-01

The lanthanum sulfides are promising candidate materials for high-efficiency thermoelectric applications at temperatures up to 1300 0 C. The nonstoichiometric lanthanum sulfides (LaS /SUB x/ , where 1.33 2 //rho/ can be chosen. The thermal conductivity remains approximately constant with stoichiometry, so a material with an optimum value of α 2 //rho/ should possess the optimum figure-of-merit. Data for the Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity of non-stoichiometric lanthanum sulfides is presented, together with structural properties of these materials

Influence of Oxygen Partial Pressure during Processing on the Thermoelectric Properties of Aerosol-Deposited CuFeO₂.

Science.gov (United States)

Stöcker, Thomas; Exner, Jörg; Schubert, Michael; Streibl, Maximilian; Moos, Ralf

2016-03-24

In the field of thermoelectric energy conversion, oxide materials show promising potential due to their good stability in oxidizing environments. Hence, the influence of oxygen partial pressure during synthesis on the thermoelectric properties of Cu-Delafossites at high temperatures was investigated in this study. For these purposes, CuFeO₂ powders were synthetized using a conventional mixed-oxide technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were conducted to determine the crystal structures of the delafossites associated with the oxygen content during the synthesis. Out of these powders, films with a thickness of about 25 µm were prepared by the relatively new aerosol-deposition (AD) coating technique. It is based on a room temperature impact consolidation process (RTIC) to deposit dense solid films of ceramic materials on various substrates without using a high-temperature step during the coating process. On these dense CuFeO₂ films deposited on alumina substrates with electrode structures, the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity were measured as a function of temperature and oxygen partial pressure. We compared the thermoelectric properties of both standard processed and aerosol deposited CuFeO₂ up to 900 °C and investigated the influence of oxygen partial pressure on the electrical conductivity, on the Seebeck coefficient and on the high temperature stability of CuFeO₂. These studies may not only help to improve the thermoelectric material in the high-temperature case, but may also serve as an initial basis to establish a defect chemical model.

High Performance High Temperature Thermoelectric Composites with Metallic Inclusions

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, James M. (Inventor); Bux, Sabah K. (Inventor); Fleurial, Jean-Pierre (Inventor); Ravi, Vilupanur A. (Inventor); Firdosy, Samad A. (Inventor); Star, Kurt (Inventor); Kaner, Richard B. (Inventor)

2017-01-01

The present invention provides a composite thermoelectric material. The composite thermoelectric material can include a semiconductor material comprising a rare earth metal. The atomic percent of the rare earth metal in the semiconductor material can be at least about 20%. The composite thermoelectric material can further include a metal forming metallic inclusions distributed throughout the semiconductor material. The present invention also provides a method of forming this composite thermoelectric material.

Thermoelectric properties of currently available Au/Pt thermocouples related to the valid reference function

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edler F.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Au/Pt thermocouples are considered to be an alternative to High Temperature Standard Platinum Resistance Thermometers (HTSPRTs for realizing temperatures according to the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90 in the temperature range between aluminium (660.323 °C and silver (961.78 °C. The original aim of this work was to develop and to validate a new reference function for Au/Pt thermocouples which reflects the properties of presently commercially available Au and Pt wires. The thermoelectric properties of 16 Au/Pt thermocouples constructed at different National Metrological Institutes by using wires from different suppliers and 4 commercially available Au/Pt thermocouples were investigated. Most of them exhibit significant deviations from the current reference function of Au/Pt thermocouples caused by the poor performance of the Au-wires available. Thermoelectric homogeneity was investigated by measuring immersion profiles during freezes at the freezing point of silver and in liquid baths. The thermoelectric inhomogeneities were found to be one order of magnitude larger than those of Au/Pt thermocouples of the Standard Reference Material® (SRM® 1749. The improvement of the annealing procedure of the gold wires is a key process to achieve thermoelectric homogeneities in the order of only about (2–3 mK, sufficient to replace the impracticable HTSPRTs as interpolation instruments of the ITS-90. Comparison measurements of some of the Au/Pt thermocouples against a HTSPRT and an absolutely calibrated radiation thermometer were performed and exhibit agreements within the expanded measurement uncertainties. It has been found that the current reference function of Au/Pt thermocouples reflects adequately the thermoelectric properties of currently available Au/Pt thermocouples.

Electronic structure and high thermoelectric properties of a new material Ba{sub 3}Cu{sub 20}Te{sub 13}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Gui, E-mail: kuiziyang@126.com [College of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Anyang Normal University, Anyang, Henan, 455000 (China); Wu, Jinghe [Department of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Henan Institute of Education, Zhengzhou, 450046 (China); Zhang, Jing; Ma, Dongwei [College of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Anyang Normal University, Anyang, Henan, 455000 (China)

2016-09-05

The electronic structure and high thermoelectric properties of Ba{sub 3}Cu{sub 20}Te{sub 13} are studied using first principles calculations and the semiclassical Boltzmann theory. The coexistence of ionic and covalent bonding in Ba{sub 3}Cu{sub 20}Te{sub 13} indicates that it is a Zintl phase compound. The calculated band structure shows that the compound is a semiconductor with an indirect band gap ∼0.45 eV, which is an appropriate band for the high thermoelectric performance. The transport calculations based on the electronic structure indicate that it exhibits relatively large Seebeck coefficients, high electrical conductivities, and high power factor. For Ba{sub 3}Cu{sub 20}Te{sub 13}, the n-type doping may achieve a higher thermoelectric performance than that of p-type doping. It is worth noting that the thermoelectric parameters of Ba{sub 3}Cu{sub 20}Te{sub 13} are comparable or larger than that of Ca{sub 5}Al{sub 2}Sb{sub 6}, a typical Zintl compound representative with high thermoelectric performance. - Highlights: • The electronic structure and thermoelectric(TE) properties are firstly studied. • The heavy and light bands near the Fermi level benefit TE properties. • The comparison indicates Ba{sub 3}Cu{sub 20}Te{sub 13} is a potential high TE material.

Low-temperature thermoelectric power factor enhancement by controlling nanoparticle size distribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Zebarjadi, Mona; Esfarjani, Keivan; Bian, Zhixi; Shakouri, Ali

2011-01-12

Coherent potential approximation is used to study the effect of adding doped spherical nanoparticles inside a host matrix on the thermoelectric properties. This takes into account electron multiple scatterings that are important in samples with relatively high volume fraction of nanoparticles (>1%). We show that with large fraction of uniform small size nanoparticles (∼1 nm), the power factor can be enhanced significantly. The improvement could be large (up to 450% for GaAs) especially at low temperatures when the mobility is limited by impurity or nanoparticle scattering. The advantage of doping via embedded nanoparticles compared to the conventional shallow impurities is quantified. At the optimum thermoelectric power factor, the electrical conductivity of the nanoparticle-doped material is larger than that of impurity-doped one at the studied temperature range (50-500 K) whereas the Seebeck coefficient of the nanoparticle doped material is enhanced only at low temperatures (∼50 K).

Preparation and thermoelectric properties of RF co-sputtered CoSb{sub 3} skutteruddite thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmed, Aziz [University of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Han, Seungwoo [Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); University of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-11-15

Various skutterudites have been under investigation because of their potential application in thermoelectric materials and devices. These studies indicate that bulk materials with a skutterudite type structure show reasonable thermoelectric behaviors at elevated temperatures, which make them suitable for high-temperature thermoelectric applications. The results of thermoelectric-property measurements on skutterudite-phase CoSb{sub 3} thin films are presented in this study in order to extend the bulk material concept to micro-device applications by using thin film deposition technology. Thin films are deposited on oxidized silicon substrates by using the RF co-sputtering method. The film's composition is found to depend strongly on the deposition conditions. The temperature at which the deposited films transition from an amorphous state to a crystalline state has been reported to be about 153 .deg. C. Therefore, some experiments are performed with the substrate temperature kept at 200 .deg. C to obtain polycrystalline films. The crystal structure of the film is evaluated by using x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) is used to determine the film's composition whereas the surface morphology and the thickness are investigated and measured by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, the thermoelectric properties, namely, the electrical resistivity and the Seebeck coefficient, are used to calculate the power factor of the deposited thin films and, their variations with temperature are measured. We report a maximum power factor of 0.41 mW/mK{sup 2} for the film deposited at a 200 .deg. C substrate temperature.

Nano-Like Effects in Crystalline Thermoelectric Materials at High Temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Korzhuev, M. A.; Katin, I. V.

2013-05-01

The mechanisms of improving the figure of merit Z and power parameter W of thermoelectric materials (TEMs) in the transitions λph→a and λe→a are considered (Here λph and λe are the mean free path of the phonons and electrons in the sample, and a is the inter atomic distance). It is shown that the same mechanisms are responsible for the growth of Z and W crystalline TEMs at high temperatures.

Magneto-electronic, thermal, and thermoelectric properties of some Co-based quaternary alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Bhat, Tahir Mohiuddin; Gupta, Dinesh C.

2018-01-01

In this study, quaternary Heusler alloys CoFeCrZ (Z = Si, As, Sb) were investigated based on the modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential. The electronic structures demonstrated that CoFeCrZ (Z = Si, As, Sb) alloys are completely spin polarized with indirect bandgap and has an integer magnetic moment according to the Slater-Pauling rule. Pugh's and Poisson's ratios showed that these materials are highly ductile with high melting temperatures. The thermal properties comprising the thermal expansion coefficient, heat capacity, and Grüneisen parameter were evaluated at various pressures from 0 to 20 GPa. The Grüneisen parameter values indicated the strong anharmonicity of the lattice vibrations that predominated in these compounds. We also studied the dependency of the thermoelectric transport properties on the temperature, i.e., the thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. These alloys exhibited low lattice thermal conductivity and good Seebeck coefficients at room temperature. The half-metallic structures of these compounds with large band gaps and adequate Seebeck coefficients mean that they are suitable for use in spintronic and thermoelectric device applications.

The Influence of Spark Plasma Sintering Temperature on the Microstructure and the Thermoelectric Properties of Al, Ga dually-doped ZnO

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Han, Li; Le, Thanh Hung; Van Nong, Ngo

2012-01-01

Al, Ga dually-doped ZnO was prepared by spark plasma sintering with different sintering temperatures. The microstructural evolution and thermoelectric properties of the samples were investigated in detail. The samples with a sintering temperature above 1223K obtained higher relative densities...

Using high thermal stability flexible thin film thermoelectric generator at moderate temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Zhuang-Hao; Luo, Jing-Ting; Chen, Tian-Bao; Zhang, Xiang-Hua; Liang, Guang-Xing; Fan, Ping

2018-04-01

Flexible thin film thermoelectric devices are extensively used in the microscale industry for powering wearable electronics. In this study, comprehensive optimization was conducted in materials and connection design for fabricating a high thermal stability flexible thin film thermoelectric generator. First, the thin films in the generator, including the electrodes, were prepared by magnetron sputtering deposition. The "NiCu-Cu-NiCu" multilayer electrode structure was applied to ensure the thermal stability of the device used at moderate temperature in an air atmosphere. A design with metal layer bonding and series accordant connection was then employed. The maximum efficiency of a single PN thermocouple generator is >11%, and the output power loss of the generator is <10% after integration.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study and thermoelectric properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Li; Fang Liang; Zhou Xianju; Liu Ziyi; Zhao Liang; Jiang Sha

2009-01-01

In this paper, high quality Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared by direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering using a Zn target (99.99%) containing Al of 1.5 wt.%. The films obtained were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermoelectric measurements. The XPS results reveal that Zn and Al exist only in oxidized state, while there are dominant crystal lattice and rare adsorbed oxygen for O in the annealed AZO thin films. The studies of thermoelectric property show a striking thermoelectric effect in the AZO thin films. On the one hand, the thermoelectromotive and magnetothermoelectromotive forces increase linearly with increasing temperature difference (ΔT). On the other hand, the thermoelectric power (TEP) decreases with the electrical resistance of the sample. But the TEP increases with the increase of temperature below 300 K, and it nearly does not change around room temperature. The experimental results also demonstrate that the annealing treatment increases TEP, while the external magnetic field degrades TEP.

Tuning the Transport Properties of Layered Materials for Thermoelectric Applications using First-Principles Calculations

KAUST Repository

Saeed, Yasir

2014-05-11

Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat into electric power and thus provide a way to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. Our aim is to model the underlying materials properties and, in particular, the transport as controlled by electrons and lattice vibrations. The goal is to develop an understanding of the thermoelectric properties of selected materials at a fundamental level. The structural, electronic, optical, and phononic properties are studied in order to tune the transport, focusing on KxRhO2, NaxRhO2, PtSb2 and Bi2Se3. The investigations are based on density functional theory as implemented in the all electron linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbitals WIEN2k and pseudo potential Quantum-ESPRESSO codes. The thermoelectric properties are derived from Boltzmann transport theory under the constant relaxation time approximation, using the BoltzTraP code. We will discuss first the changes in the electronic band structure under variation of the cation concentration in layered KxRhO2 in the 2H phase and NaxRhO2 in the 3R phase. We will also study the hydrated phase. The deformations of the RhO6 octahedra turn out to govern the thermoelectric properties, where the high Seebeck coefficient results from ”pudding mold" bands. We investigate the thermoelectric properties of electron and hole doped PtSb2, which is not a layered material but shares “pudding mold" bands. PtSb2 has a high Seebeck coefficient at room temperature, which increases significantly under As alloying by bandgap opening and reduction of the lattice thermal conductivity. Bi2Se3 (bulk and thin film) has a larger bandgap then the well-known thermoelectric material Bi2Te3, which is important at high temperature. The structural stability, electronic structure, and transport properties of one to six quintuple layers of Bi2Se3 will be discussed. We also address the effect of strain on a single quintuple layer by phonon band structures. We will analyze the electronic and transport

Effect of bath temperature on structure, morphology and thermoelectric properties of CoSb{sub 3} thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yadav, Suchitra, E-mail: suchitrayadav87@gmail.com; Pandya, Dinesh K.; Chaudhary, Sujeet [Thin Film Laboratory, Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi-110016 (India)

2016-05-23

CoSb{sub 3} thin films are deposited on conducting glass substrates (FTO) by electrodeposition at different bath temperatures (60°C, 70°C and 80°C) and the resulting influence of the bath temperature on the structure, morphology and electrical properties of films is investigated. X-ray diffraction confirms the formation of CoSb{sub 3} phase in the films. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that different morphologies ranging from branched nano-flakes to nano-needles evolve as bath temperature increases. It is concluded that a growth temperature of 80°C is suitable for producing CoSb{sub 3} films with such properties that show potential feasibility for thermoelectric applications.

Modeling a Thermoelectric Generator Applied to Diesel Automotive Heat Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Espinosa, N.; Lazard, M.; Aixala, L.; Scherrer, H.

2010-09-01

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are outstanding devices for automotive waste heat recovery. Their packaging, lack of moving parts, and direct heat to electrical conversion are the main benefits. Usually, TEGs are modeled with a constant hot-source temperature. However, energy in exhaust gases is limited, thus leading to a temperature decrease as heat is recovered. Therefore thermoelectric properties change along the TEG, affecting performance. A thermoelectric generator composed of Mg2Si/Zn4Sb3 for high temperatures followed by Bi2Te3 for low temperatures has been modeled using engineering equation solver (EES) software. The model uses the finite-difference method with a strip-fins convective heat transfer coefficient. It has been validated on a commercial module with well-known properties. The thermoelectric connection and the number of thermoelements have been addressed as well as the optimum proportion of high-temperature material for a given thermoelectric heat exchanger. TEG output power has been estimated for a typical commercial vehicle at 90°C coolant temperature.

High thermoelectric figure of merit in nanocrystalline polyaniline at low temperatures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nath, Chandrani; Kumar, Ashok, E-mail: ask@tezu.ernet.in, E-mail: okram@csr.res.in [Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, Tezpur University, Tezpur 784 028 (India); Kuo, Yung-Kang [Department of Physics, National Dong-Hwa University, Hualien 974, Taiwan (China); Okram, Gunadhor Singh, E-mail: ask@tezu.ernet.in, E-mail: okram@csr.res.in [Electrical Transport Laboratory, UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore 452 017 (India)

2014-09-29

Thermoelectric coolers with figure of merit (ZT) close to unity at low temperatures are the need of the hour with new advances in high temperature superconductors, superconducting microelectronic circuits, quantum computers, and photonics. Here, we demonstrate that the conducting polymer polyaniline (Pani) doped with camphor sulfonic acid synthesized in semi-crystalline nanostructures, possesses a giant Seebeck effect at low temperatures. The resulting enormously large Seebeck coefficient (up to 0.6 V/K) combined with an intrinsically low electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity give rise to a ZT = 0.77 at 45 K and ZT = 2.17 at 17 K.

Thermoelectric properties of bismuth antimony tellurium thin films through bilayer annealing prepared by ion beam sputtering deposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zheng, Zhuang-hao [College of Physics Science and Technology, Shenzhen University, 518060 (China); Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology, Shenzhen 518060 (China); Fan, Ping, E-mail: fanping308@126.com [College of Physics Science and Technology, Shenzhen University, 518060 (China); Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology, Shenzhen 518060 (China); Luo, Jing-ting [College of Physics Science and Technology, Shenzhen University, 518060 (China); Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology, Shenzhen 518060 (China); Cai, Xing-min; Liang, Guang-xing; Zhang, Dong-ping [College of Physics Science and Technology, Shenzhen University, 518060 (China); Ye, Fan [Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology, Shenzhen 518060 (China)

2014-07-01

Bismuth antimony tellurium is one of the most important tellurium-based materials for high-efficient thermoelectric application. In this paper, ion beam sputtering was used to deposit Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} bilayer thin films on borosilicate substrates at room-temperature. Then the bismuth antimony tellurium thin films were synthesized via post thermal treatment of the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} bilayer thin films. The effect of annealing temperature and compositions on the thermoelectric properties of the thin films was investigated. After the thin films were annealed from 150 °C to 350 °C for 1 h in the high vacuum condition, the Seebeck coefficient changed from a negative sign to a positive sign. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the synthesized tellurium-based thermoelectric thin film exhibited various alloys phases, which contributed different thermoelectricity conductivity to the synthesized thin film. The overall Seebeck coefficient of the synthesized thin film changed from negative sign to positive sign, which was due to the change of the primary phase of the tellurium-based materials at different annealing conditions. Similarly, the thermoelectric properties of the films were also associated with the grown phase. High-quality thin film with the Seebeck coefficient of 240 μV K{sup −1} and the power factor of 2.67 × 10{sup −3} Wm{sup −1} K{sup −2} showed a single Bi{sub 0.5}Sb{sub 1.5}Te{sub 3} phase when the Sb/Te thin film sputtering time was 40 min. - Highlights: • Bi{sub 0.5}Sb{sub 1.5}Te{sub 3} thermoelectric thin films synthesized via bilayer annealing • The film has single Bi{sub 0.5}Sb{sub 1.5}Te{sub 3} phase with best thermoelectric performance. • The film has high thermoelectric properties comparable with other best results.

Nanostructured Thermoelectric Oxides for Energy Harvesting Applications

KAUST Repository

Abutaha, Anas I.

2015-11-24

As the world strives to adapt to the increasing demand for electrical power, sustainable energy sources are attracting significant interest. Around 60% of energy utilized in the world is wasted as heat. Different industrial processes, home heating, and exhausts in cars, all generate a huge amount of unused waste heat. With such a huge potential, there is also significant interest in discovering inexpensive technologies for power generation from waste heat. As a result, thermoelectric materials have become important for many renewable energy research programs. While significant advancements have been done in improving the thermoelectric properties of the conventional heavy-element based materials (such as Bi2Te3 and PbTe), high-temperature applications of thermoelectrics are still limited to one materials system, namely SiGe, since the traditional thermoelectric materials degrade and oxidize at high temperature. Therefore, oxide thermoelectrics emerge as a promising class of materials since they can operate athigher temperatures and in harsher environments compared to non-oxide thermoelectrics. Furthermore, oxides are abundant and friendly to the environment. Among oxides, crystalline SrTiO3 and ZnO are promising thermoelectric materials. The main objective of this work is therefore to pursue focused investigations of SrTiO3 and ZnO thin films and superlattices grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), with the goal of optimizing their thermoelectric properties by following different strategies. First, the effect of laser fluence on the thermoelectric properties of La doped epitaxial SrTiO3 films is discussed. Films grown at higher laser fluences exhibit better thermoelectric performance. Second, the role of crystal orientation in determining the thermoelectric properties of epitaxial Al doped ZnO (AZO) films is explained. Vertically aligned (c-axis) AZO films have superior thermoelectric properties compared to other films with different crystal orientations. Third

The thermo-electric nature of the Debye temperature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mithun Bhowmick

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The Debye temperature is typically associated with the heat capacity of a solid and the cut-off of the possible lattice vibrations, but not necessarily to the electric conductivity of the material. By investigating III-V and II-VI compound semiconductors, we reveal that the Debye temperature represents a thermo-electric material parameter, connecting the thermal and electronic properties of a solid via a distinct power law.

Thermoelectric enhancement at low temperature in nonstoichiometric lead-telluride compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Heng; Li Jingfeng; Kita, Takuji

2007-01-01

Pb 1.17 Te thermoelectric polycrystalline materials were fabricated by mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The property measurement and microstructural characterization showed that the present material has special features different from traditional Pb 1+x Te ingots with secondary Pb phase. An attractive enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT = 0.64 was obtained at 450 K, with a low thermal conductivity of 1.11 W m -1 K -1 at this temperature. Transmission electron microscopy observation showed the existence of randomly dispersed nano features that are responsible for such enhancement, some of which are similar to the nanostructures reported in the AgPb m SbTe m+2 system. The origin of these regions is discussed and their influence on thermal conductivity is revealed. The results confirm the effectiveness of such a kind of nano feature in improving thermoelectric properties, especially in reducing thermal conductivity. They also indicate a new way of obtaining thermoelectric materials with such a kind of nano feature via MA and SPS

Thermoelectric properties of PbSe₀.₅Te₀.₅: x (PbI₂) with endotaxial nanostructures: a promising n-type thermoelectric material.

Science.gov (United States)

Rawat, P K; Paul, B; Banerji, P

2013-05-31

In the present investigation, we report on the thermoelectric properties of PbSe₀.₅Te₀.₅: x (PbI₂) from room temperature to 625 K. High-resolution transmission electron micrographs of the samples reveal endotaxial nanostructures embedded in a PbSe₀.₅Te₀.₅ matrix. The combined effect of mass fluctuation and nanostructures reduces the thermal conductivity to a great extent compared to PbTe and PbSe, without affecting the carrier mobility. As a result, a thermoelectric figure of merit with a value of 1.5 is achieved at 625 K. This value is significantly higher than that of the available state-of-the-art n-type materials.

Thermoelectric Properties of Two-Dimensional Molybdenum-based MXenes

KAUST Repository

Kim, Hyunho

2017-07-05

MXenes are an interesting class of 2D materials consisting of transition metal carbides and nitrides, which are currently a subject of extensive studies. Although there have been theoretical calculations estimating the thermoelectric properties of MXenes, no experimental measurements have been reported so far. In this report, three compositions of Mo-based MXenes (Mo2CTx, Mo2TiC2Tx, and Mo2Ti2C3Tx) have been synthesized and processed into free-standing binder-free papers by vacuum-assisted filtration, and their electrical and thermoelectric properties are measured. Upon heating to 800 K, these MXene papers exhibit high conductivity and n-type Seebeck coefficient. The thermoelectric power reaches 3.09×10-4 W m-1 K-2 at 803 K for the Mo2TiC2Tx MXene. While the thermoelectric properties of MXenes do not reach that of the best materials, they exceed their parent ternary and quaternary layered carbides. Mo2TiC2Tx shows the highest electrical conductivity in combination with the largest Seebeck coefficient of the three 2D materials studied.

Thermoelectric properties of boron and boron phosphide CVD wafers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumashiro, Y.; Yokoyama, T.; Sato, A.; Ando, Y. [Yokohama National Univ. (Japan)

1997-10-01

Electrical and thermal conductivities and thermoelectric power of p-type boron and n-type boron phosphide wafers with amorphous and polycrystalline structures were measured up to high temperatures. The electrical conductivity of amorphous boron wafers is compatible to that of polycrystals at high temperatures and obeys Mott`s T{sup -{1/4}} rule. The thermoelectric power of polycrystalline boron decreases with increasing temperature, while that of amorphous boron is almost constant in a wide temperature range. The weak temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of BP polycrystalline wafers reflects phonon scattering by grain boundaries. Thermal conductivity of an amorphous boron wafer is almost constant in a wide temperature range, showing a characteristic of a glass. The figure of merit of polycrystalline BP wafers is 10{sup -7}/K at high temperatures while that of amorphous boron is 10{sup -5}/K.

CaMn(1-x)Nb(x)O3 (x < or = 0.08) perovskite-type phases as promising new high-temperature n-type thermoelectric materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Bocher, L; Aguirre, M H; Logvinovich, D; Shkabko, A; Robert, R; Trottmann, M; Weidenkaff, A

2008-09-15

Perovskite-type CaMn(1-x)Nb(x)O(3+/-delta) (x = 0.02, 0.05, and 0.08) compounds were synthesized by applying both a "chimie douce" (SC) synthesis and a classical solid state reaction (SSR) method. The crystallographic parameters of the resulting phases were determined from X-ray, electron, and neutron diffraction data. The manganese oxidations states (Mn(4+)/Mn(3+)) were investigated by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The orthorhombic CaMn(1-x)Nb(x)O(3+/-delta) (x = 0.02, 0.05, and 0.08) phases were studied in terms of their high-temperature thermoelectric properties (Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity). Differences in electrical transport and thermal properties can be correlated with different microstructures obtained by the two synthesis methods. In the high-temperature range, the electron-doped manganate phases exhibit large absolute Seebeck coefficient and low electrical resistivity values, resulting in a high power factor, PF (e.g., for x = 0.05, S(1000K) = -180 microV K(-1), rho(1000K) = 16.8 mohms cm, and PF > 1.90 x 10(-4) W m(-1) K(-2) for 450 K 0.3) make these phases the best perovskitic candidates as n-type polycrystalline thermoelectric materials operating in air at high temperatures.

The Influence of Spark Plasma Sintering Temperature on the Microstructure and Thermoelectric Properties of Al,Ga Dual-Doped ZnO

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Han, Li; Le, Thanh Hung; Van Nong, Ngo

2013-01-01

ZnO dual-doped with Al and Ga was prepared by spark plasma sintering using different sintering temperatures. The microstructural evolution and thermoelectric properties of the samples were investigated in detail. The samples obtained with sintering temperature above 1223 K had higher relative...... of ZnO particles and microstructure evolution at different sintering temperatures were investigated by simulation of the self-Joule-heating effect of the individual particles....

Thermoelectric properties of high pressure synthesized lithium and calcium double-filled CoSb3

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaohui Li

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Lithium and calcium are inefficient filling elements of CoSb3 at ambient pressure, but show nice filling behavior under high pressure. In this work, we synthesized Li/Ca double-filled CoSb3 with high pressure synthesis method. The products show the skutterudite structure of Im3¯ symmetry. Thermoelectric properties were effectively enhanced through Li and Ca co-filling. For the optimal Li0.08Ca0.18Co4Sb12 sample, the power factor maintains a relatively high value over the whole measurement temperature range and peaks at 4700μWm−1K−2, meanwhile the lattice thermal conductivity is greatly suppressed, leading to a maximal ZT of 1.18 at 700 K. Current work demonstrates high pressure synthesis as an effective method to produce multiple elemental filled CoSb3 skutterudites.

High-temperature thermoelectric properties of p-type skutterudites Ba0.15Yb x Co3FeSb12 and Yb y Co3FeSb9As3

KAUST Repository

Dong, Yongkwan

2014-08-28

Two series of p-type polycrystalline skutterudites, Ba0.15YbxCo3FeSb12 and YbyCo3FeSb9As3 with varying Yb concentrations, were synthesized by solid-state reaction and then densified by hot pressing. The phase and stoichiometries of the resulting materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy, while their high-temperature transport properties were investigated from 300 to 800 K. The Seebeck coefficients and electrical resistivities increased linearly with increasing temperature for the double-filled specimens. The Seebeck coefficients and electrical resistivities did not change very much for the As-substituted specimens. The thermal conductivity for all specimens decreased with increasing temperature up to 700 K, corresponding to the plateau in the Seebeck coefficient, and then increased again due to bipolar diffusion. We find that double filling is a more feasible approach to thermoelectric property optimization than single filling with As substitution. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Effect of linear and non-linear components in the temperature dependences of thermoelectric properties on the energy conversion efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamashita, Osamu

2009-01-01

The new thermal rate equations were built up by taking the linear and non-linear components in the temperature dependences of the Seebeck coefficient α, the electrical resistivity ρ and thermal conductivity κ of a thermoelectric (TE) material into the thermal rate equations on the assumption that their temperature dependences are expressed by a quadratic function of temperature T. The energy conversion efficiency η for a single TE element was formulated using the new thermal rate ones proposed here. By applying it to the high-performance half-Heusler compound, the non-linear component in the temperature dependence of α among those of the TE properties has the greatest effect on η, so that η/η 0 was increased by 11% under the condition of T = 510 K and ΔT = 440 K, where η 0 is a well-known conventional energy conversion efficiency. It was thus found that the temperature dependences of TE properties have a significant influence on η. When one evaluates the accurate achievement rate of η exp obtained experimentally for a TE generator, therefore, η exp should be compared with η the estimated from the theoretical expression proposed here, not with η 0 , particularly when there is a strong non-linearity in the temperature dependence of TE properties.

Designing high-Performance layered thermoelectric materials through orbital engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Jiawei; Song, Lirong; Madsen, Georg K. H.

2016-01-01

Thermoelectric technology, which possesses potential application in recycling industrial waste heat as energy, calls for novel high-performance materials. The systematic exploration of novel thermoelectric materials with excellent electronic transport properties is severely hindered by limited...... insight into the underlying bonding orbitals of atomic structures. Here we propose a simple yet successful strategy to discover and design high-performance layered thermoelectric materials through minimizing the crystal field splitting energy of orbitals to realize high orbital degeneracy. The approach...... naturally leads to design maps for optimizing the thermoelectric power factor through forming solid solutions and biaxial strain. Using this approach, we predict a series of potential thermoelectric candidates from layered CaAl2Si2-type Zintl compounds. Several of them contain nontoxic, low-cost and earth...

Electrical and thermoelectric properties of different compositions of Ge–Se–In thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aly, K.A., E-mail: kamalaly2001@gmail.com [Physics Department, Faculty of Science and Arts Khulais, University of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia); Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut Branch, Assiut (Egypt); Dahshan, A., E-mail: adahshan73@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Port Said University, Port Said (Egypt); Department of Physics, Faculty of Science for Girls, King Khalid University, Abha (Saudi Arabia); Abbady, Gh. [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Assuit University, Assuit (Egypt); Saddeek, Y. [Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut Branch, Assiut (Egypt)

2016-09-15

The effect of temperature in the range of 300–450 K and the indium content on the electrical and thermoelectric properties of Ge{sub 20}Se{sub 80−x}In{sub x} (0.0≤x≤24 at%) chalcogenide glassy thin films have been studied. From dc electrical and thermoelectric measurements, it was observed that the activation energies for electrical conductivity (ΔE) and for thermoelectric (ΔE{sub s}) decrease while the conductivity (σ) and Seebeck coefficient (S) increase upon introducing In into the Ge–Se glasses. In contrast to the behavior obtained with Bi or Pb doping, In incorporated in Ge–Se does not lead to a p-to n-type conduction inversion. The power factor (P) which is strongly depends on both of the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity. According to the obtained results, the Ge{sub 20}Se{sub 80−x}In{sub x} films can be considered potential candidates for incurring high action thermoelectric materials.

Thermoelectric properties of atomically thin silicene and germanene nanostructures

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, K.; Cahangirov, S.; Cantarero, A.; Rubio, A.; D'Agosta, R.

2014-03-01

The thermoelectric properties in one- and two-dimensional silicon and germanium structures have been investigated using first-principles density functional techniques and linear response for the thermal and electrical transport. We have considered here the two-dimensional silicene and germanene, together with nanoribbons of different widths. For the nano ribbons, we have also investigated the possibility of nano structuring these systems by mixing silicon and germanium. We found that the figure of merit at room temperature of these systems is remarkably high, up to 2.5.

Lead telluride with increased mechanical stability for cylindrical thermoelectric generators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitz, Andreas

2013-01-01

The aim of this work is to improve the mechanical stability of lead telluride (PbTe), trying to vary its mechanical properties independently from its thermoelectric properties. Thus the influence of material preparation as well as different dopants on the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of lead telluride is being analysed. When using appropriately set process parameters, milling and sintering of lead telluride increases the material's hardness. With sintering temperatures exceeding 300 C stable material of high relative density can be achieved. Milling lead telluride generates lattice defects leading to a reduction of the material's charge carrier density. These defects can be reduced by increased sintering temperatures. Contamination of the powder due to the milling process leads to bloating during thermal cycling and thus reduced density of the sintered material. In addition to that, evaporation of tellurium at elevated temperatures causes instability of the material's thermoelectric properties. Based on the experimental results obtained in this work, the best thermoelectric and mechanical properties can be obtained by sintering coarse powders at around 400 C. Within this work a concept was developed to vary the mechanical properties of lead telluride via synthesis of PbTe with electrically nondoping elements, which thus may keep the thermoelectric properties unchanged. Therefore, the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of Pb 1-x Ca x Te were investigated. Doping pure PbTe with calcium causes a significant increase of the material's hardness while only slightly decreasing the charge carrier density and thus keeping the thermoelectric properties apart from a slight reduction of the electrical conductivity nearly unchanged. The abovementioned concept is proven using sodium doped lead telluride, as it is used for thermoelectric generators: The additional doping with calcium again increases the material's hardness while its thermoelectric properties

Electronic, phononic, and thermoelectric properties of graphyne sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sevinçli, Hâldun; Sevik, Cem

2014-01-01

Electron, phonon, and thermoelectric transport properties of α-, β-, γ-, and 6,6,12-graphyne sheets are compared and contrasted with those of graphene. α-, β-, and 6,6,12-graphynes, with direction dependent Dirac dispersions, have higher electronic transmittance than graphene. γ-graphyne also attains better electrical conduction than graphene except at its band gap. Vibrationally, graphene conducts heat much more efficiently than graphynes, a behavior beyond an atomic density differences explanation. Seebeck coefficients of the considered Dirac materials are similar but thermoelectric power factors decrease with increasing effective speeds of light. γ-graphyne yields the highest thermoelectric efficiency with a thermoelectric figure of merit as high as ZT = 0.45, almost an order of magnitude higher than that of graphene

Potential Usage of Thermoelectric Devices in a High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xin, Gao; Chen, Min; Andreasen, Søren Juhl

2012-01-01

Methanol fuelled high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HTPEMFC) power systems are promising as the next generation of vehicle engines, efficient and environmentally friendly. Currently, their performance still needs to be improved and they still rely on a large Li-ion battery...... for system startup. In this paper, to handle these two issues, the potential of thermoelectric (TE) devices applied in a HTPEMFC power system has been preliminarily evaluated. Firstly, right after the fuel cell stack or the methanol reformer, thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are embedded inside a gas......-liquid heat exchanger to jointly form a heat recovery subsystem for electricity production. It is calculated that the recovered power can increase the system efficiency and mitigate the dependence on Li-ion battery during system startup. To further improve the TEG subsystem performance, a finite...

Effects of Yttrium and Iron co-doping on the high temperature thermoelectric properties of Ca{sub 3}Co{sub 4}O{sub 9+δ}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, NingYu, E-mail: niwu@dtu.dk; Van Nong, Ngo; Pryds, Nini; Linderoth, Søren

2015-07-25

Highlights: • The Fe and Fe/Y doping at the Co- and Ca-sites of Ca{sub 3}Co{sub 4}O{sub 9+δ} were investigated. • The rising ρ by Y doping can be mitigated by the coupled Fe doping. • The increased Seebeck coefficient by Y doping can be maintained in co-doped system. • The co-doped system leads to an improvement of the thermoelectric performance. • The co-doped system may preserve the merits from each component doping. - Abstract: A series of Y and Fe co-doped Ca{sub 3−x}Y{sub x}Co{sub 4−y}Fe{sub y}O{sub 9+δ} (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.3, 0 ⩽ y ⩽ 0.1) samples synthesized by auto-combustion reaction and followed by a spark plasma sintering (SPS) processing with the effects of Fe and Y doping on the high temperature (RT to 800 °C) thermoelectric properties were systematically investigated. For the Fe-doped system (x = 0, y ⩽ 0.1), the electrical resistivity (ρ) decreased over the whole measured temperature range, while the Seebeck coefficient (S) remained almost the same. For the co-doped system, at any fixed Fe doping content, both ρ and S tended to increase with increasing Y dopants, however, the effect is more substantial on ρ than on S, particularly in the low temperature regime. In contrast to ρ and S, the in-plane thermal conductivity (κ) is only slightly influenced by Y and Fe substitutions. Among all the investigated samples, the co-doped sample with x = 0.1 and y = 0.03 showed a decrease of ρ, enhanced power factor over the measured temperature range, and improved ZT at 800 °C as compared to un-doped Ca{sub 3}Co{sub 4}O{sub 9+δ}.

Effect of spark plasma sintering conditions on the thermoelectric properties of (Bi{sub 0.25}Sb{sub 0.75}){sub 2}Te{sub 3} alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lim, Sang-Soon [Center for Electronic Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Ju-Heon [High Temp. Energy Materials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea, Republic of); Kwon, Beomjin; Kim, Seong Keun [Center for Electronic Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea, Republic of); Park, Hyung-Ho [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Ki-Suk; Baik, Jeong Min [School of Materials and Science Engineering, UNIST, Ulsan 689-798 (Korea, Republic of); KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, UNIST, Ulsan 689-798 (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Won Jun [Center for Opto-Electronic Materials and Devices, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Dong-Ik [High Temp. Energy Materials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea, Republic of); Hyun, Dow-Bin; Kim, Jin-Sang [Center for Electronic Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea, Republic of); Baek, Seung-Hyub, E-mail: shbaek77@kist.re.kr [Center for Electronic Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea, Republic of); KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, UNIST, Ulsan 689-798 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Nanomaterials Science and Technology, Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-333 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-09-05

As a field-assisted technique, spark plasma sintering (SPS) enables densification of specimens in a very short period of time compared to other sintering techniques. For high performance thermoelectric material synthesis, SPS is widely used to fabricate nanograin-structured thermoelectric materials by rapidly densifying the nanopowders suppressing grain growth. However, the microstructural evolution behavior of thermoelectric materials by SPS, another important process during sintering, has been rarely studied. Here, we explore SPS as a tool to control the microstructure by long-time SPS. Using p-type (Bi{sub 0.25}Sb{sub 0.75}){sub 2}Te{sub 3} thermoelectric materials as a model system, we systematically vary SPS temperature and time to understand the correlations between SPS conditions, microstructural evolution, and the thermoelectric properties. Our results show that the relatively low eutectic temperature (∼420 °C) and the existence of volatile tellurium (Te) are critical factors to determine both microstructure and thermoelectric property. In the liquid-phase sintering regime, rapid evaporation of Te leads to a strong dependence of thermoelectric property on SPS time. On the other hand, in the solid-phase sintering regime, there is a weak dependence on SPS time. The optimum thermoelectric figure-of-merit (Z) of 2.93 × 10{sup −3}/K is achieved by SPS at 500 °C for 30 min. Our results will provide an insight on the optimization of SPS conditions for materials containing volatile elements with low eutectic temperature. - Highlights: • Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is used to synthesize the thermoelectric (Bi{sub 0.25}Sb{sub 0.75}){sub 2}Te{sub 3}. • Liquid phase and volatile element are a key for the microstructure and thermoelectric property. • Thermoelectric figure-of-merit of 2.9 × 10{sup −3}/K is achieved at 500 °C for 30 min.

High Tc Superconducting Magnet Excited by a Semiconductor Thermoelectric Element

Science.gov (United States)

Kuriyama, T.; Ono, M.; Tabe, S.; Oguchi, A.; Okamura, T.

2006-04-01

A high Tc superconducting (HTS) magnet excited by a thermal electromotive force of a thermoelectric element is studied. This HTS magnet has the advantages of compactness, lightweight and continuous excitation in comparison with conventional HTS magnets, because this HTS magnet does not need a large external power source. In this system, a heat input into the cryogenic environment is necessary to excite the thermoelectric element for constant operation. This heat generation, however, causes a rise in temperature of an HTS coil and reduces the system performance. In this paper, a newly designed magnet system which adopted a two-stage GM cryocooler was investigated. It enabled us to control the temperature of a thermoelectric element and that of an HTS coil independently. The temperature of the HTS coil could be kept at 10-20 K at the second stage of the GM cryocooler, while the thermoelectric element could be excited at higher temperature in the range of 50-70 K at the first stage, where the performance of the thermoelectric element was higher. The experimental results on this HTS magnet are shown and the possibility of the thermoelectric element as a main power source of the HTS magnets is discussed.

Thermoelectric Control Of Temperatures Of Pressure Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Burkett, Cecil G., Jr.; West, James W.; Hutchinson, Mark A.; Lawrence, Robert M.; Crum, James R.

1995-01-01

Prototype controlled-temperature enclosure containing thermoelectric devices developed to house electronically scanned array of pressure sensors. Enclosure needed because (1) temperatures of transducers in sensors must be maintained at specified set point to ensure proper operation and calibration and (2) sensors sometimes used to measure pressure in hostile environments (wind tunnels in original application) that are hotter or colder than set point. Thus, depending on temperature of pressure-measurement environment, thermoelectric devices in enclosure used to heat or cool transducers to keep them at set point.

Influence of nanosized inclusions on the room temperature thermoelectrical properties of a p-type bismuth–tellurium–antimony alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernard-Granger, Guillaume; Addad, Ahmed; Navone, Christelle; Soulier, Mathieu; Simon, Julia; Szkutnik, Pierre-David

2012-01-01

Transmission electron microscopy observations and thermoelectrical property measurements (electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity) at room temperature have been completed on two fully dense polycrystalline p-type bismuth–tellurium–antimony alloy samples. It is shown that the presence of antimony oxide-based nanosized inclusions (controlled as to volume fraction and size distribution), homogeneously dispersed in the surrounding matrix leads to a dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.3 at room temperature. For comparison, when such inclusions are missing the ZT value is only 0.6.

High-temperature stability of thermoelectric Ca₃Co₄O₉ thin films

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brinks, P.; Van Nong, Ngo; Pryds, Nini

2015-01-01

An enhanced thermal stability in thermoelectric Ca3Co4O9 thin films up to 550 °C in an oxygen rich environment was demonstrated by high-temperature electrical and X-ray diffraction measurements. In contrast to generally performed heating in helium gas, it is shown that an oxygen/helium mixture...... provides sufficient thermal contact, while preventing the previously disregarded formation of oxygen vacancies. Combining thermal cycling with electrical measurements proves to be a powerful tool to study the real intrinsic thermoelectric behaviour of oxide thin films at elevated temperatures. © 2015 AIP...

Isovalent substitutes play in different ways: Effects of isovalent substitution on the thermoelectric properties of CoSi_0_._9_8B_0_._0_2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Hui; Lu, Xu; Morelli, Donald T.

2016-01-01

Boron-added CoSi, CoSi_0_._9_8B_0_._0_2, possesses a very high thermoelectric power factor of 60 μW cm"−"1 K"−"2 at room temperature, which is among the highest power factors that have ever been reported for near-room-temperature thermoelectric applications. Since the electrical properties of this material have been tuned properly, isovalent substitution for its host atoms is intentionally employed to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity while maintaining the electronic properties unchanged. In our previous work, the effect of Rh substitution for Co atoms on the thermoelectric properties of CoSi_0_._9_8B_0_._0_2 has been studied. Here, we present a study of the substitution of Ge for Si atoms in this compound. Even though Ge and Rh are isovalent with their corresponding host atoms, they play different roles in determining the electrical and thermal transport properties. Through the evaluation of the lattice thermal conductivity by the Debye approximation and the comparison between the high-temperature Seebeck coefficients, we propose that Rh substitution leads to a further overlapping of the conduction and the valence bands, while Ge substitution only shifts the Fermi level upward into the conduction band. Our results show that the influence of isovalent substitution on the electronic structure cannot be ignored when the alloying method is used to improve thermoelectric properties.

Prospects for Engineering Thermoelectric Properties in La1/3NbO3 Ceramics Revealed via Atomic-Level Characterization and Modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Kepaptsoglou, Demie; Baran, Jakub D; Azough, Feridoon; Ekren, Dursun; Srivastava, Deepanshu; Molinari, Marco; Parker, Stephen C; Ramasse, Quentin M; Freer, Robert

2018-01-02

A combination of experimental and computational techniques has been employed to explore the crystal structure and thermoelectric properties of A-site-deficient perovskite La 1/3 NbO 3 ceramics. Crystallographic data from X-ray and electron diffraction confirmed that the room temperature structure is orthorhombic with Cmmm as a space group. Atomically resolved imaging and analysis showed that there are two distinct A sites: one is occupied with La and vacancies, and the second site is fully unoccupied. The diffuse superstructure reflections observed through diffraction techniques are shown to originate from La vacancy ordering. La 1/3 NbO 3 ceramics sintered in air showed promising high-temperature thermoelectric properties with a high Seebeck coefficient of S 1 = -650 to -700 μV/K and a low and temperature-stable thermal conductivity of k = 2-2.2 W/m·K in the temperature range of 300-1000 K. First-principles electronic structure calculations are used to link the temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient measured experimentally to the evolution of the density of states with temperature and indicate possible avenues for further optimization through electron doping and control of the A-site occupancies. Moreover, lattice thermal conductivity calculations give insights into the dependence of the thermal conductivity on specific crystallographic directions of the material, which could be exploited via nanostructuring to create high-efficiency compound thermoelectrics.

Thermoelectric properties of the 3C, 2H, 4H, and 6H polytypes of the wide-band-gap semiconductors SiC, GaN, and ZnO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheng Huang

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We have investigated the thermoelectric properties of the 3C, 2H, 4H, and 6H polytypes of the wide-band-gap(n-type semiconductors SiC, GaN, and ZnO based on first-principles calculations and Boltzmann transport theory. Our results show that the thermoelectric performance increases from 3C to 6H, 4H, and 2H structures with an increase of hexagonality for SiC. However, for GaN and ZnO, their power factors show a very weak dependence on the polytype. Detailed analysis of the thermoelectric properties with respect to temperature and carrier concentration of 4H-SiC, 2H-GaN, and 2H-ZnO shows that the figure of merit of these three compounds increases with temperature, indicating the promising potential applications of these thermoelectric materials at high temperature. The significant difference of the polytype-dependent thermoelectric properties among SiC, GaN, and ZnO might be related to the competition between covalency and ionicity in these semiconductors. Our calculations may provide a new way to enhance the thermoelectric properties of wide-band-gap semiconductors through atomic structure design, especially hexagonality design for SiC.

Structural and thermoelectric properties of zintl-phase CaLiPn (Pn=As, Sb, Bi)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chandran, Anoop K.; Gudelli, Vijay Kumar; Sreeparvathy, P.C.; Kanchana, V., E-mail: kanchana@iith.ac.in

2016-11-15

First-principles calculations were carried out to study the structural, mechanical, dynamical and transport properties of zintl phase materials CaLiPn (Pn=As, Sb and Bi). We have used two different approaches to solve the system based on density functional theory. The plane wave pseudopotential approach has been used to study the structural and dynamical properties whereas, full potential linear augment plane wave method is used to examine the electronic structure, mechanical and thermoelectric properties. The calculated ground-state properties agree quite well with experimental values. The computed electronic structure shows the investigated compounds to be direct band gap semiconductors. Further, we have calculated the thermoelectric properties of all the investigated compounds for both the carriers at various temperatures. We found a high thermopower for both the carriers, especially n-type doping to be more favourable, which enabled us to predict that CaLiPn might have promising applications as a good thermoelectric material. Further, the phonon dispersion curves of the investigated compounds showed flat phonon modes and we also find lower optical and acoustic modes to cut each other at the lower frequency range, which further indicate the investigated compounds to possess reasonably low thermal conductivity. We have also analysed the low value of the thermal conductivity through the empirical relations and discussions are presented here. - Highlights: • Electronic band structure and chemical bonding. • Single crystalline elastic constants and poly crystalline elastic moduli. • Thermoelectric properties of zintl phase. • Lattice dynamics and phonon density of states.

Thermoelectric properties of finite graphene antidot lattices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gunst, Tue; Markussen, Troels; Jauho, Antti-Pekka

2011-01-01

We present calculations of the electronic and thermal transport properties of graphene antidot lattices with a finite length along the transport direction. The calculations are based on the π-tight-binding model and the Brenner potential. We show that both electronic and thermal transport...... properties converge fast toward the bulk limit with increasing length of the lattice: only a few repetitions (≃6) of the fundamental unit cell are required to recover the electronic band gap of the infinite lattice as a transport gap for the finite lattice. We investigate how different antidot shapes...... and sizes affect the thermoelectric properties. The resulting thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, can exceed 0.25, and it is highly sensitive to the atomic arrangement of the antidot edges. Specifically, hexagonal holes with pure armchair edges lead to an order-of-magnitude larger ZT as compared to pure...

Temperature-modulated direct thermoelectric gas sensors: thermal modeling and results for fast hydrocarbon sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rettig, Frank; Moos, Ralf

2009-01-01

Direct thermoelectric gas sensors are a promising alternative to conductometric gas sensors. For accurate results, a temperature modulation technique in combination with a regression analysis is advantageous. However, the thermal time constant of screen-printed sensors is quite large. As a result, up to now the temperature modulation frequency (20 mHz) has been too low and the corresponding principle-related response time (50 s) has been too high for many applications. With a special design, respecting the physical properties of thermal waves and the use of signal processing similar to a lock-in-amplifier, it is possible to achieve response times of about 1 s. As a result, direct thermoelectric gas sensors with SnO 2 as a gas-sensitive material respond fast and are reproducible to the propane concentration in the ambient atmosphere. Due to the path-independent behavior of the thermovoltage and the temperature, the measured thermopower of two sensors is almost identical

Synthesis and Characterization of Thermoelectric Oxides at Macro- and Nano-scales

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Feiyue

Thermoelectric materials can directly convert a temperature difference into electrical voltage and vice versa. Due to this unique property, thermoelectric materials are widely used in industry and scientific laboratories for temperature sensing and thermal management applications. Waste heat harvesting, another potential application of thermoelectric materials, has long been limited by the low conversion efficiency of the materials. Potential high temperature applications, such as power plant waste heat harvesting and combustion engine exhaust heat recovery, make thermoelectric oxides a very promising class of thermoelectric materials. In this thesis, the synthesis and characterization of thermoelectric oxide materials are explored. In the first part of this thesis, the measurement methodologies and instrumentation processes employed to investigate different thermoelectric properties, such as the Seebeck coefficient and carrier concentration at the bulk scale and the thermal conductivity at the nanoscale, are detailed. Existing scientific and engineering challenges associated with these measurements are also reviewed. To overcome such problems, original parts and methodologies have been designed. Three fully functional systems were ultimately developed for the characterization of macroscale thermoelectric properties as well as localized thermal conductivity. In the second part of the thesis, the synthesis of NaxCo 2O4, a thermoelectric oxide material, is discussed. Modification of both composition and structure were carried out so as to optimize the thermoelectric performance of NaxCo2O4. Nanostructuring methods, such as ball milling, electrospinning, auto-combustion synthesis, and core-shell structure fabrication, have been developed to refine the grain size of NaxCo2O4 in order to reduce its thermal conductivity. However, the structure of the nanostructured materials is very unstable at high temperature and limited improvement on thermoelectric performance is

Bi2O2Se nanosheet: An excellent high-temperature n-type thermoelectric material

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Jiabing; Sun, Qiang

2018-01-01

Motivated by the recent synthesis of an ultrathin film of layered Bi2O2Se [Wu et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 12, 530 (2017); Wu et al., Nano Lett. 17, 3021 (2017)], we have systematically studied the thermoelectric properties of a Bi2O2Se nanosheet using first principles density functional theory combined with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. The calculated results indicate that the Bi2O2Se nanosheet exhibits a figure of merit (ZT) of 3.35 for optimal n-type doping at 800 K, which is much larger than the ZT value of 2.6 at 923 K in SnSe known as the most efficient thermoelectric material [Zhao et al., Nature 508, 373 (2014)]. Equally important, the high ZT in the n-type doped Bi2O2Se nanosheet highlights the efficiency of the reduced dimension on improving thermoelectric performance as compared with strain engineering by which the ZT of n-type doped bulk Bi2O2Se cannot be effectively enhanced.

Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in High Temperature Environments in Aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Elefsiniotis, A.; Becker, Th.; Schmid, U.

2014-06-01

Wireless, energy-autonomous structural health-monitoring systems in aircraft have the potential of reducing total maintenance costs. Thermoelectric energy harvesting, which seems the best choice for creating truly autonomous health monitoring sensors, is the principle behind converting waste heat to useful electrical energy through the use of thermoelectric generators. To enhance the temperature difference across the two sides of a thermoelectric generator, i.e. increasing heat flux and energy production, a phase change material acting as thermal mass is attached on one side of the thermoelectric generators while the other side is placed on the aircraft structure. The application area under investigation for this paper is the pylon aft fairing, located near the engine of an aircraft, with temperatures reaching on the inside up to 350 °C. Given these harsh operational conditions, the performance of a device, containing erythritol as a phase change material, is evaluated. The harvested energy reaching values up to 81.4 J can be regulated by a power management module capable of storing the excess energy and recovering it from the medium powering a sensor node and a wireless transceiver.

Mechanical properties of thermoelectric n-type magnesium silicide synthesized employing in situ spark plasma reaction sintering

Science.gov (United States)

Muthiah, Saravanan; Singh, R. C.; Pathak, B. D.; Dhar, Ajay

2017-07-01

Thermoelectric devices employing magnesium silicide (Mg2Si) offer an inexpensive and non-toxic solution for green energy generation compared to other existing conventional thermoelectric materials in the mid-temperature range. However, apart from the thermoelectric performance, their mechanical properties are equally important in order to avoid the catastrophic failure of their modules during actual operation. In the present study, we report the synthesis of Mg2Si co-doped with Bi and Sb employing in situ spark plasma reaction sintering and investigate its broad range of mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the sintered co-doped Mg2Si suggest a significantly enhanced value of hardness ~5.4  ±  0.2 GPa and an elastic modulus ~142.5  ±  6 GPa with a fracture toughness of ~1.71  ±  0.1 MPa  √m. The thermal shock resistance, which is one of the most vital parameter for designing thermoelectric devices, was found to be ~300 W m-1, which is higher than most of the other existing state-of-the-art mid-temperature thermoelectric materials. The friction and wear characteristics of sintered co-doped Mg2Si have been reported for the first time, in order to realize the sustainability of their thermoelectric modules under actual hostile environmental conditions.

Improved microstructure and thermoelectric properties of iodine doped indium selenide as a function of sintering temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Dhama, Pallavi; Kumar, Aparabal; Banerji, P.

2018-04-01

In this paper, we explored the effect of sintering temperature on the microstructure, thermal and electrical properties of iodine doped indium selenide in the temperature range 300 - 700 K. Samples were prepared by a collaborative process of vacuum melting, ball milling and spark plasma sintering at 570 K, 630 K and 690 K. Single phase samples were obtained at higher sintering temperature as InSe is stable only at lower temperature. With increasing sintering temperature, densities of the samples were found to improve with larger grain size formation. Negative values of Seebeck coefficient were observed which indicates n-type carrier transport. Seebeck coefficient increases with sintering temperature and found to be the highest for the sample sintered at 690 K. Thermal conductivity found to be lower in the samples sintered at lower temperatures. The maximum thermoelectric figure of merit found to be ˜ 1 at 700 K due to the enhanced power factor as a result of improved microstructure.

Electronic, optical, and thermoelectric properties of Fe2+xV1−xAl

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. P. Rai

2017-04-01

Full Text Available We report the electronic, optical, and thermoelectric properties of full-Heusler alloy Fe2VAl with Fe antisite doping (Fe2+xV1−xAl as obtained from the first-principles Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson potential. The results are discussed in relation to the available experimental data and show good agreements for the band gap, magnetic moment, and optical spectra. Exploring our transport data for thermoelectric applicability suggest that Fe2+xV1−xAl is a good candidate with a high figure of merit (ZT 0.75(0.65 for x = 0.25(0.50 at room temperature.

Electronic structure and thermoelectric transport properties of the golden Th2S3-type Ti2O3 under pressure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Xu

2016-05-01

Full Text Available A lot of physical properties of Th2S3-type Ti2O3 have investigated experimentally, hence, we calculated electronic structure and thermoelectric transport properties by the first-principles calculation under pressure. The increase of the band gaps is very fast from 30GP to 35GP, which is mainly because of the rapid change of the lattice constants. The total density of states becomes smaller with increasing pressure, which shows that Seebeck coefficient gradually decreases. Two main peaks of Seebeck coefficients always decrease and shift to the high doping area with increasing temperature under pressure. The electrical conductivities always decrease with increasing temperature under pressure. The electrical conductivity can be improved by increasing pressure. Electronic thermal conductivity increases with increasing pressure. It is noted that the thermoelectric properties is reduced with increasing temperature.

Thermoelectric properties of Nd0.75Sr1.25CoO4 thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, S.L.; Ruan, K.Q.; Jiao, X.L.; Wu, H.Y.; Lv, Z.M.; Pang, Z.Q.; Liu, J.; Yang, H.S.; Wu, W.B.; Cao, L.Z.; Li, X.G.

2007-01-01

Temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity (ρ) and thermopower (S) in the ab-plane of Nd 0.75 Sr 1.25 CoO 4 thin films have been investigated systematically in the temperature range 70 K< T<310 K. The specimen presents a p-type semiconducting transport property. The S nearly keeps constant at high temperatures and decreases at low ones with an additional step-like decrease, which was argued to be intimately related with the magnetic properties of the specimen. The resistivity follows the Arrhenius law. And the large value of the power factor suggests the films may be a good candidate for the thermoelectric material

High thermoelectric performance of graphite nanofibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Van-Truong; Saint-Martin, Jérôme; Dollfus, Philippe; Volz, Sebastian

2018-02-22

Graphite nanofibers (GNFs) have been demonstrated to be a promising material for hydrogen storage and heat management in electronic devices. Here, by means of first-principles and transport simulations, we show that GNFs can also be an excellent material for thermoelectric applications thanks to the interlayer weak van der Waals interaction that induces low thermal conductance and a step-like shape in the electronic transmission with mini-gaps, which are necessary ingredients to achieve high thermoelectric performance. This study unveils that the platelet form of GNFs in which graphite layers are perpendicular to the fiber axis can exhibit outstanding thermoelectric properties with a figure of merit ZT reaching 3.55 in a 0.5 nm diameter fiber and 1.1 in a 1.1 nm diameter one. Interestingly, by introducing 14 C isotope doping, ZT can even be enhanced up to more than 5, and more than 8 if we include the effect of finite phonon mean free path, which demonstrates the amazing thermoelectric potential of GNFs.

Thermoelectric properties of Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6-δ ceramics in different oxygen-reduction conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yi; Liu, Jian; Wang, Chun-Lei; Su, Wen-Bin; Zhu, Yuan-Hu; Li, Ji-Chao; Mei, Liang-Mo

2015-04-01

The thermoelectric properties of Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6-δ ceramics, reduced in different conditions, are investigated in the temperature range from 323 K to 1073 K. The electrical transport behaviors of the samples are dominated by the thermal-activated polaron hopping in the low temperature range, the Fermi glass behavior in the middle temperature range, and the Anderson localized behavior in the high temperature range. The thermal conductivity presents a plateau at high-temperatures, indicating a glass-like thermal conduction behavior. Both the thermoelectric power factor and the thermal conductivity increase with the increase of the degree of oxygen-reduction. Taking these two factors into account, the oxygen-reduction can still contribute to promoting the thermoelectric figure of merit. The highest ZT value is obtained to be ˜0.19 at 1073 K in the heaviest oxygen reduced sample. Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB632506) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51202132 and 51002087).

Impact of microstructure on the thermoelectric properties of the ternary compound Ce{sub 3}Cu{sub 3}Sb{sub 4}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Witas, Piotr, E-mail: pwitas@us.edu.pl [Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, Uniwersytecka 4, Katowice 40-007 (Poland); Goraus, Jerzy; Zajdel, Paweł; Balin, Katarzyna; Koperski, Janusz [Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, Uniwersytecka 4, Katowice 40-007 (Poland); Lelątko, Józef [Institute of Materials Science, University of Silesia, 75 Pułku Piechoty 1a, Chorzów 41-500 (Poland); Ślebarski, Andrzej [Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, Uniwersytecka 4, Katowice 40-007 (Poland)

2017-01-15

We present detailed structural and thermoelectric studies of the ternary compound Ce{sub 3}Cu{sub 3}Sb{sub 4}. This material is of interest due to previously reported considerable thermopower above room temperature (∼ 100 μV/K) and low thermal conductivity (2 W/(m K)). Here, we present detailed studies concerning microstructural and thermoelectric data, their variation across the samples and possible explanations for the observed behaviour. We have used X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) for microstructural analysis. The thermoelectric properties were examined using a physical property measurement system (PPMS). We analyse the impact of the sample quality on the thermoelectric properties. The most unstable parameter is the material resistivity which varies between 1.5 and 15 mΩ cm at room temperature. The properties variability is mainly due to structural defects caused by stresses during material preparation and also due to formation of foreign phases CeCuSb{sub 2} and CeSb. The figure of merit ZT is also strongly dependent on the quality of the sample. The largest value ZT ≈ 0.15 at 400 K is determined for the almost stoichiometric sample with small amounts of a impurity phases. - Highlights: •The Ce{sub 3}Cu{sub 3}Sb{sub 4} has considerable thermoelectric properties and potential for further chemical and/or structural modification. •The control over foreign phases formation is challenging. •The defects arising during arc melting process highly deteriorate ZT of material.

Benzothienobenzothiophene-Based Molecular Conductors: High Conductivity, Large Thermoelectric Power Factor, and One-Dimensional Instability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiyota, Yasuhiro; Kadoya, Tomofumi; Yamamoto, Kaoru; Iijima, Kodai; Higashino, Toshiki; Kawamoto, Tadashi; Takimiya, Kazuo; Mori, Takehiko

2016-03-23

On the basis of an excellent transistor material, [1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (BTBT), a series of highly conductive organic metals with the composition of (BTBT)2XF6 (X = P, As, Sb, and Ta) are prepared and the structural and physical properties are investigated. The room-temperature conductivity amounts to 4100 S cm(-1) in the AsF6 salt, corresponding to the drift mobility of 16 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). Owing to the high conductivity, this salt shows a thermoelectric power factor of 55-88 μW K(-2) m(-1), which is a large value when this compound is regarded as an organic thermoelectric material. The thermoelectric power and the reflectance spectrum indicate a large bandwidth of 1.4 eV. These salts exhibit an abrupt resistivity jump under 200 K, which turns to an insulating state below 60 K. The paramagnetic spin susceptibility, and the Raman and the IR spectra suggest 4kF charge-density waves as an origin of the low-temperature insulating state.

Isovalent substitutes play in different ways: Effects of isovalent substitution on the thermoelectric properties of CoSi{sub 0.98}B{sub 0.02}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun, Hui, E-mail: huisun3@iflytek.com [Department of Basic Teaching, Anhui Institute of Information Technology, Wuhu, Anhui 241000 (China); Lu, Xu [College of Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331 (China); Morelli, Donald T. [Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 (United States)

2016-07-21

Boron-added CoSi, CoSi{sub 0.98}B{sub 0.02}, possesses a very high thermoelectric power factor of 60 μW cm{sup −1} K{sup −2} at room temperature, which is among the highest power factors that have ever been reported for near-room-temperature thermoelectric applications. Since the electrical properties of this material have been tuned properly, isovalent substitution for its host atoms is intentionally employed to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity while maintaining the electronic properties unchanged. In our previous work, the effect of Rh substitution for Co atoms on the thermoelectric properties of CoSi{sub 0.98}B{sub 0.02} has been studied. Here, we present a study of the substitution of Ge for Si atoms in this compound. Even though Ge and Rh are isovalent with their corresponding host atoms, they play different roles in determining the electrical and thermal transport properties. Through the evaluation of the lattice thermal conductivity by the Debye approximation and the comparison between the high-temperature Seebeck coefficients, we propose that Rh substitution leads to a further overlapping of the conduction and the valence bands, while Ge substitution only shifts the Fermi level upward into the conduction band. Our results show that the influence of isovalent substitution on the electronic structure cannot be ignored when the alloying method is used to improve thermoelectric properties.

NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Boron Rich Solids Sensors for Biological and Chemical Detection, Ultra High Temperature Ceramics, Thermoelectrics, Armor

CERN Document Server

Orlovskaya, Nina

2011-01-01

The objective of this book is to discuss the current status of research and development of boron-rich solids as sensors, ultra-high temperature ceramics, thermoelectrics, and armor. Novel biological and chemical sensors made of stiff and light-weight boron-rich solids are very exciting and efficient for applications in medical diagnoses, environmental surveillance and the detection of pathogen and biological/chemical terrorism agents. Ultra-high temperature ceramic composites exhibit excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance for hypersonic vehicle applications. Boron-rich solids are also promising candidates for high-temperature thermoelectric conversion. Armor is another very important application of boron-rich solids, since most of them exhibit very high hardness, which makes them perfect candidates with high resistance to ballistic impact. The following topical areas are presented: •boron-rich solids: science and technology; •synthesis and sintering strategies of boron rich solids; •microcantileve...

Thermoelectric properties and nanostructures of materials prepared from rice husk ash

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pukird, S.; Tipparach, U.; Kasian, P. [Ubon Ratchathani Univ., Ubon Ratchathani (Thailand). Dept. of Physics; Limsuwan, P. [King Mongkut' s Univ. of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok (Thailand). Dept. of Physics

2009-07-01

Thailand produces large amounts of agricultural residues such as rice husk and coconut shells. Rice husk is considered to be a potential source for solar grade silicon. Studies have shown that reasonably pure polycrystalline silicon can be prepared from rice husk white ash by a metallothermic reduction process. This paper reported on a study that investigated the thermoelectric properties of ceramic material prepared by mixing silica from rice husk ash and carbon obtained from coconut shell charcoal. The thermoelectric properties of the materials were examined along with their microstructures. The materials were made from burning rice husk ash and coconut shell at different temperatures and then doped with metal oxides. Pellets were heated at temperature of 700 degrees C for 1-3 hours. The voltage on both sides of the pellets was observed. The electromotive force was found when different temperatures were applied on both sides of the pellet specimens. The Seebeck coefficient was then calculated. The results showed that these materials can be used as thermoelectric devices. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) were used to investigate the source of materials and the products on the substrates. The images of SEM and EDX showed nanostructures of materials such as nanowires, nanorods and nanoparticles of the products and sources. 22 refs., 2 tabs., 9 figs.

High – temperature thermoelectric properties of Hg – doped CuInTe2

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kucek, V.; Drašar, Č.; Kašparová, J.; Plecháček, T.; Navrátil, Jiří; Vlček, Milan; Beneš, L.

2015-01-01

Roč. 118, č. 12 (2015), 125105-1 - 125105-7 ISSN 0021-8979 Institutional support: RVO:61389013 Keywords : thermoelectric materials * Hall coefficient * Seebeck coefficient Subject RIV: CA - Inorganic Chemistry Impact factor: 2.101, year: 2015

Edge magnetism impact on electrical conductance and thermoelectric properties of graphenelike nanoribbons

Science.gov (United States)

Krompiewski, Stefan; Cuniberti, Gianaurelio

2017-10-01

Edge states in narrow quasi-two-dimensional nanostructures determine, to a large extent, their electric, thermoelectric, and magnetic properties. Nonmagnetic edge states may quite often lead to topological-insulator-type behavior. However, another scenario develops when the zigzag edges are magnetic and the time reversal symmetry is broken. In this work we report on the electronic band structure modifications, electrical conductance, and thermoelectric properties of narrow zigzag nanoribbons with spontaneously magnetized edges. Theoretical studies based on the Kane-Mele-Hubbard tight-binding model show that for silicene, germanene, and stanene both the Seebeck coefficient and the thermoelectric power factor are strongly enhanced for energies close to the charge neutrality point. A perpendicular gate voltage lifts the spin degeneracy of energy bands in the ground state with antiparallel magnetized zigzag edges and makes the electrical conductance significantly spin polarized. Simultaneously the gate voltage worsens the thermoelectric performance. Estimated room-temperature figures of merit for the aforementioned nanoribbons can exceed a value of 3 if phonon thermal conductances are adequately reduced.

Thermoelectric properties of In-rich InGaN and InN/InGaN superlattices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James (Zi-Jian Ju

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The thermoelectric properties of n-type InGaN alloys with high In-content and InN/InGaN thin film superlattices (SL grown by molecular beam epitaxy are investigated. Room-temperature measurements of the thermoelectric properties reveal that an increasing Ga-content in ternary InGaN alloys (0 < x(Ga < 0.2 yields a more than 10-fold reduction in thermal conductivity (κ without deteriorating electrical conductivity (σ, while the Seebeck coefficient (S increases slightly due to a widening band gap compared to binary InN. Employing InN/InGaN SLs (x(Ga = 0.1 with different periods, we demonstrate that confinement effects strongly enhance electron mobility with values as high as ∼820 cm2/V s at an electron density ne of ∼5×1019 cm−3, leading to an exceptionally high σ of ∼5400 (Ωcm−1. Simultaneously, in very short-period SL structures S becomes decoupled from ne, κ is further reduced below the alloy limit (κ < 9 W/m-K, and the power factor increases to 2.5×10−4 W/m-K2 by more than a factor of 5 as compared to In-rich InGaN alloys. These findings demonstrate that quantum confinement in group-III nitride-based superlattices facilitates improvements of thermoelectric properties over bulk-like ternary nitride alloys.

Search for thermoelectrics with high figure of merit in half-Heusler compounds with multinary substitution

Science.gov (United States)

Choudhary, Mukesh K.; Ravindran, P.

2018-04-01

In order to improve the thermoelectric performance of TiCoSb we have substituted 50% of Ti equally with Zr and Hf at Ti site and Sb with Sn and Se equally at Sb site. The electronic structure of Ti0.5Zr0.25Hf0.25CoSn0.5Se0.5 is investigated using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave method and the thermoelectric transport properties are calculated on the basis of semi-classical Boltzmann transport theory. Our band structure calculations show that Ti0.5Zr0.25Hf0.25CoSn0.5Se0.5 has semiconducting behavior with indirect band gap value of 0.98 eV which follow the empirical rule of 18 valence-electron content to bring semiconductivity in half Heusler compounds, indicating that one can have semiconducting behavior in multinary phase of half Heusler compounds if they full fill the 18 VEC rule and this open-up the possibility of designing thermoelectrics with high figure of merit in half Heusler compounds. We show that at high temperature of around 700K Ti0.5Zr0.25Hf0.25CoSn0.5Se0.5 has high thermoelectric figure of merit of ZT = 1.05 which is higher than that of TiCoSb (˜ 0.95) suggesting that by going from ternary to multinary phase system one can enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit at higher temperatures.

Arsenene and Antimonene: Two-Dimensional Materials with High Thermoelectric Figures of Merit

KAUST Repository

Sharma, S.

2017-10-25

We study the thermoelectric properties of As and Sb monolayers (arsenene and antimonene) using density-functional theory and the semiclassical Boltzmann transport approach. The materials show large band gaps combined with low lattice thermal conductivities. Specifically, the small phonon frequencies and group velocities of antimonene lead to an excellent thermoelectric response at room temperature. We show that n-type doping enhances the figure of merit.

High thermoelectric power factor in two-dimensional crystals of Mo S2

Science.gov (United States)

Hippalgaonkar, Kedar; Wang, Ying; Ye, Yu; Qiu, Diana Y.; Zhu, Hanyu; Wang, Yuan; Moore, Joel; Louie, Steven G.; Zhang, Xiang

2017-03-01

The quest for high-efficiency heat-to-electricity conversion has been one of the major driving forces toward renewable energy production for the future. Efficient thermoelectric devices require high voltage generation from a temperature gradient and a large electrical conductivity while maintaining a low thermal conductivity. For a given thermal conductivity and temperature, the thermoelectric power factor is determined by the electronic structure of the material. Low dimensionality (1D and 2D) opens new routes to a high power factor due to the unique density of states (DOS) of confined electrons and holes. The 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) semiconductors represent a new class of thermoelectric materials not only due to such confinement effects but especially due to their large effective masses and valley degeneracies. Here, we report a power factor of Mo S2 as large as 8.5 mW m-1K-2 at room temperature, which is among the highest measured in traditional, gapped thermoelectric materials. To obtain these high power factors, we perform thermoelectric measurements on few-layer Mo S2 in the metallic regime, which allows us to access the 2D DOS near the conduction band edge and exploit the effect of 2D confinement on electron scattering rates, resulting in a large Seebeck coefficient. The demonstrated high, electronically modulated power factor in 2D TMDCs holds promise for efficient thermoelectric energy conversion.

Ytterbium silicide (YbSi{sub 2}). A promising thermoelectric material with a high power factor at room temperature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tanusilp, Sora-at; Ohishi, Yuji; Muta, Hiroaki [Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka (Japan); Yamanaka, Shinsuke [Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka (Japan); Research Institute of Nuclear Engineering, University of Fukui, Tsuruga (Japan); Nishide, Akinori [Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka (Japan); Center for Exploratory Research, Research and Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd., Kokubunji, Tokyo (Japan); Hayakawa, Jun [Center for Exploratory Research, Research and Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd., Kokubunji, Tokyo (Japan); Kurosaki, Ken [Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka (Japan); Research Institute of Nuclear Engineering, University of Fukui, Tsuruga (Japan); JST, PRESTO, Kawaguchi, Saitama (Japan)

2018-02-15

Metal silicide-based thermoelectric (TE) materials have attracted attention in the past two decades, because they are less toxic, with low production cost and high chemical stability. Here, we study the TE properties of ytterbium silicide YbSi{sub 2} with a specific layered structure and the mixed valence state of Yb{sup 2+} and Yb{sup 3+}. YbSi{sub 2} exhibits large Seebeck coefficient, S, accompanied by high electrical conductivity, σ, leading to high power factor, S{sup 2}σ, of 2.2 mW m{sup -1} K{sup -2} at room temperature, which is comparable to those of state-of-the-art TE materials such as Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and PbTe. Moreover, YbSi{sub 2} exhibits high Grueneisen parameter of 1.57, which leads to relatively low lattice thermal conductivity, κ{sub lat}, of 3.0 W m{sup -1} K{sup -1} at room temperature. The present study reveals that YbSi{sub 2} can be a good candidate of TE materials working near room temperature. (copyright 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Investigation of electronic, magnetic and thermoelectric properties of Zr{sub 2}NiZ (Z = Al,Ga) ferromagnets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yousuf, Saleem, E-mail: nengroosaleem17@gmail.com; Gupta, Dinesh C., E-mail: sosfizix@gmail.com

2017-05-01

Systematic investigation of impact of electronic structure and magnetism, on the thermoelectric properties of new Zr{sub 2}NiZ (Z = Al, Ga) Heusler alloys are determined using density functional theory calculations. Half-metallicity with ferromagnetic character is supported by their 100% spin polarizations at the Fermi level. Magnetic moment of ∼3 μ{sub B} is according to the Slater-Puling rule, enables their practical applications. Electron density plots are used to analyse the nature of bonding and chemical composition. Boltzmann's theory is conveniently employed to investigate the thermoelectric properties of these compounds. The analysis of the thermal transport properties specifies the Seebeck coefficient as 25.6 μV/K and 18.6 μV/K at room temperature for Zr{sub 2}NiAl and Zr{sub 2}NiGa, respectively. The half-metallic nature with efficient thermoelectric coefficients suggests the likelihood of these materials to have application in designing spintronic devices and imminent thermoelectric materials. - Highlights: • The compounds are half-metallic ferromagnets. • 100% spin-polarized compounds for spintronics. • Increasing Seebeck coefficient over a wide temperature range. • Zr{sub 2}NiAl is efficient thermoelectric material than Zr{sub 2}NiGa.

Study of thermoelectric power of Co-B liquid quenched amorphous alloys at relatively high temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naqvi, S.M.N.R.; Rizvi, S.D.H.; Raza, S.M.; Rizvi, S.; Hussain, A.; Rehman, F.

1999-01-01

Measurements of thermoelectric power TEP were carried out for the samples of Co-1 alloy with appropriate compositions of constitutions in the temperature range, 350K< T<760K. The analysis of data shows an inverse Gaussian profile. Ziman theoretical model was used to fit the resistivity data which shows an agreement. Dynamic recovery processes as well as formation of vacancies, interstials, intersection of basal dislocations and indeed pyramidal interlocking of dislocations for seeding scattering centers are responsible for residual TEP at relatively high temperatures Co-B LQA alloys also undergo into other structural changes at such temperatures. (author)

Thermoelectric Properties of the Yttrium-Doped Ceramic Oxide SrTiO{sub 3}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khan, Tamal Tahsin; Ur, Soon-Chul [Korea National University of Transportation, Chungju (Korea, Republic of)

2017-01-15

The doping dependence of the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, of the ceramic oxide SrTiO{sub 3} at high temperature has been studied. In this study, yttrium was used as the doping element. A conventional solid-state reaction method was used for the preparation of Y-doped SrTiO{sub 3}. The doping level in SrTiO{sub 3} was controlled to be in the doping range of 2 - 10 mole%. Almost all the yttrium atoms incorporated into the SrTiO{sub 3} provided charge carriers, as was observed by using X-ray diffraction pattern. The relative densities of all the samples varied from 98.53% to 99.45%. The thermoelectric properties, including the electrical conductivity σ, Seebeck coefficient S, thermal conductivity k, and the figure of merit, ZT, were investigated at medium temperatures. The ZT value showed an obvious doping level dependence, in which a value as high as 0.18 is realized at 773 K for a doping of 8 mole%.

Intrinsically High Thermoelectric Performance in AgInSe2 n-Type Diamond-Like Compounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Pengfei; Qin, Yuting; Zhang, Qihao; Li, Ruoxi; Yang, Jiong; Song, Qingfeng; Tang, Yunshan; Bai, Shengqiang; Shi, Xun; Chen, Lidong

2018-03-01

Diamond-like compounds are a promising class of thermoelectric materials, very suitable for real applications. However, almost all high-performance diamond-like thermoelectric materials are p-type semiconductors. The lack of high-performance n-type diamond-like thermoelectric materials greatly restricts the fabrication of diamond-like material-based modules and their real applications. In this work, it is revealed that n-type AgInSe 2 diamond-like compound has intrinsically high thermoelectric performance with a figure of merit ( zT ) of 1.1 at 900 K, comparable to the best p-type diamond-like thermoelectric materials reported before. Such high zT is mainly due to the ultralow lattice thermal conductivity, which is fundamentally limited by the low-frequency Ag-Se "cluster vibrations," as confirmed by ab initio lattice dynamic calculations. Doping Cd at Ag sites significantly improves the thermoelectric performance in the low and medium temperature ranges. By using such high-performance n-type AgInSe 2 -based compounds, the diamond-like thermoelectric module has been fabricated for the first time. An output power of 0.06 W under a temperature difference of 520 K between the two ends of the module is obtained. This work opens a new window for the applications using the diamond-like thermoelectric materials.

Electronic and thermoelectric properties of InN studied using ab initio density functional theory and Boltzmann transport calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borges, P. D., E-mail: pdborges@gmail.com, E-mail: lscolfaro@txstate.edu; Scolfaro, L., E-mail: pdborges@gmail.com, E-mail: lscolfaro@txstate.edu [Department of Physics, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas 78666 (United States)

2014-12-14

The thermoelectric properties of indium nitride in the most stable wurtzite phase (w-InN) as a function of electron and hole concentrations and temperature were studied by solving the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equations in conjunction with ab initio electronic structure calculations, within Density Functional Theory. Based on maximally localized Wannier function basis set and the ab initio band energies, results for the Seebeck coefficient are presented and compared with available experimental data for n-type as well as p-type systems. Also, theoretical results for electric conductivity and power factor are presented. Most cases showed good agreement between the calculated properties and experimental data for w-InN unintentionally and p-type doped with magnesium. Our predictions for temperature and concentration dependences of electrical conductivity and power factor revealed a promising use of InN for intermediate and high temperature thermoelectric applications. The rigid band approach and constant scattering time approximation were utilized in the calculations.

The Effect of (Ag, Ni, Zn)-Addition on the Thermoelectric Properties of Copper Aluminate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yanagiya, Shun-ichi; Van Nong, Ngo; Xu, Jianxiao Jackie

2010-01-01

Polycrystalline bulk copper aluminate Cu1-x-yAgxByAlO2 with B = Ni or Zn were prepared by spark plasma sintering and subsequent thermal treatment. The influence of partial substitution of Ag, Ni and Zn for Cu-sites in CuAlO2 on the high temperature thermoelectric properties has been studied......, indicating a significant improvement compared with the non-doped CuAlO2 sample...

Development in Zn4Sb-based thermoelectric materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yin, Hao

or thermopower,  the electrical conductivity, the thermal conductivity and T the absolute temperature. The best thermoelectrics are heavily doped semiconductors with high thermoelectric power factors and low thermal conductivities, known as “Phonon Glasses Electrical Crystals”. Zn4Sb3 is one such material......-section. The following part reports the effect of nano-particles on the thermoelectric properties and thermal stability of Zn4Sb3. Though TiO2 nano particles have remarkably enhanced the stability, the thermoelectric performance of all the nano-composites deteriorates. Optimization of the content of the nano...

Synthesis, thermal behavior and thermoelectric properties of disordered tellurides with structures derived from the rocksalt type

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schroeder, Thorsten

2014-06-17

GeBi{sub 2}Te{sub 4} is proposed as phase-change material. Nanostructures in metastable GeBi{sub 2}Te{sub 4} were obtained by high-pressure synthesis and thermal quenching, - depending on temperature and pressure different modifications were found. The differences in the electrical characteristics can be attributed to the variation of grain boundary concentration and the grain size distribution. Two synthesis approaches were used to prepare Ag{sub 3.4}In{sub 3.7}Sb{sub 76.4}Te{sub 16.5} bulk samples and studied with respect to their transport and thermal properties. A high pressure route to prepare thermoelectrics with low thermal conductivity was developed for AgIn{sub x}Sb{sub 1-x}Te{sub 2}. Disorder and and transport studies on In{sub 3}SbTe{sub 2} were performed using X-ray, neutron and electron diffraction measurements. Nanostructures in Te/Sb/Ge/Ag (TAGS) thermoelectric materials were induced by phase transitions associated with vacancy ordering. Further studies concerned solid solution series (GeTe){sub x}(LiSbTe{sub 2}){sub 2} (1 smaller or equal x smaller or equal 11) and their thermoelectric properties.

Modeling passive power generation in a temporally-varying temperature environment via thermoelectrics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bomberger, Cory C.; Attia, Peter M.; Prasad, Ajay K.; Zide, Joshua M.O.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a model to predict the power generation of a thermoelectric generator in a temporally-varying temperature environment. The model employs a thermoelectric plate sandwiched between two different heat exchangers to convert a temporal temperature gradient in the environment to a spatial temperature gradient within the device suitable for thermoelectric power generation. The two heat exchangers are designed such that their temperatures respond to a change in the environment's temperature at different rates which sets up a temperature differential across the thermoelectric and results in power generation. In this model, radiative and convective heat transfer between the device and its surroundings, and heat flow between the two heat exchangers across the thermoelectric plate are considered. The model is simulated for power generation in Death Valley, CA during the summer using the diurnal variation of air temperature and radiative exchange with the sun and night sky as heat sources and sinks. The optimization of power generation via scaling the device size is discussed. Additional applications of this device are considered. -- Highlights: • Thermoelectric power generation with time-varying temperature is modeled. • The ability to generate power without a natural spatial gradient is demonstrated. • Time dependent heat-transfer and differential heat flow rates are considered. • Optimization of power generation via scaling the device size is discussed

Nanocomposites with High Thermoelectric Figures of Merit

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Gang (Inventor); Dresselhaus, Mildred (Inventor); Ren, Zhifeng (Inventor)

2015-01-01

The present invention is generally directed to nanocomposite thermoelectric materials that exhibit enhanced thermoelectric properties. The nanocomposite materials include two or more components, with at least one of the components forming nano-sized structures within the composite material. The components are chosen such that thermal conductivity of the composite is decreased without substantially diminishing the composite's electrical conductivity. Suitable component materials exhibit similar electronic band structures. For example, a band-edge gap between at least one of a conduction band or a valence band of one component material and a corresponding band of the other component material at interfaces between the components can be less than about 5k(sub B)T, wherein k(sub B) is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition.

High Performance Bulk Thermoelectric Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ren, Zhifeng [Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)

2013-03-31

Over 13 plus years, we have carried out research on electron pairing symmetry of superconductors, growth and their field emission property studies on carbon nanotubes and semiconducting nanowires, high performance thermoelectric materials and other interesting materials. As a result of the research, we have published 104 papers, have educated six undergraduate students, twenty graduate students, nine postdocs, nine visitors, and one technician.

Some thermoelectric properties of the light rare earth sesquiselenides (R2Se/sub 3-x/)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeshita, T.; Beaudry, B.J.; Gschneidner, K.A. Jr.

1981-01-01

Rare earth sesquiselenides of the Th 3 P 4 structure show variable electric properties over their homogeneity range, i.e., ranging from metallic (R 3 Se 4 ) to semimetallic (R 2 Se/sub 3-x/, where 0.14 > x > 0) to semiconducting (R 2 Se 3 ). The composition change is due to the formation of metal vacancies in the Th 3 P 4 structure with no vacancies at R 3 Se 4 and 4.75 at. % vacancies at R 2 Se 3 . The rare earth sesquiselenides are also refractory materials and therefore are of interest for high temperature thermoelectric applications. Preliminary results of thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity measurements on the light lanthanide sesquiselenides (La through Sm) are presented

In-situ thermoelectric temperature monitoring and "Closed-loop integrated control" system for concentrator photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid receivers

Science.gov (United States)

Rolley, Matthew H.; Sweet, Tracy K. N.; Min, Gao

2017-09-01

This work demonstrates a new technique that capitalizes on the inherent flexibility of the thermoelectric module to provide a multifunctional platform, and exhibits a unique advantage only available within CPV-TE hybrid architectures. This system is the first to use the thermoelectric itself for hot-side temperature feedback to a PID control system, needing no additional thermocouple or thermistor to be attached to the cell - eliminating shading, and complex mechanical designs for mounting. Temperature measurement accuracy and thermoelectric active cooling functionality is preserved. Dynamic "per-cell" condition monitoring and protection is feasible using this technique, with direct cell-specific temperature measurement accurate to 1°C demonstrated over the entire experimental range. The extrapolation accuracy potential of the technique was also evaluated.

Temperature-induced assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals into fractal architectures and thermoelectric power properties in Au/Ge bilayer films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li Quanbao; Wang Jian; Jiao Zheng [Shanghai Applied Radiation Institute, Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Wu Minghong, E-mail: mhwu@staff.shu.edu.cn [Shanghai Applied Radiation Institute, Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Shek, Chan-Hung; Lawrence Wu, C.M.; Lai, Joseph K.L. [Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong (Hong Kong); Chen Zhiwen, E-mail: cnzwchen@yahoo.com.cn [Shanghai Applied Radiation Institute, Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong (Hong Kong)

2011-08-15

Highlights: > Ge fractal architectures were achieved by temperature-induced assembly. > The appearance of fractal architectures influences the thermoelectric power. > But it has little effect on the resistivity. > The values of the superlocalization exponent were within 1.22 {<=} {xi} {<=} 1.29. > It was higher than expected for two-dimension fractal system. - Abstract: Fractal architectures of semiconductor nanocrystals were successfully achieved by temperature-induced assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals in gold/germanium (Au/Ge) bilayer films. New assessment strategies of fractal architectures are of fundamental importance in the development of micro/nano-devices. Temperature-dependent properties including resistivity and thermoelectric power (TEP) of Au/Ge bilayer films with self-similar fractal patterns were investigated in detail. Experimental results indicated that the microstructure of Au film plays an important role in the characteristics of Au/Ge bilayer films after annealing and the crystallization processes of amorphous Ge accompany by fractal formation of Ge nanocrystals via temperature-induced assembly. The appearance of fractal architectures has significantly influence on the TEP but little effect on the resistivity of the annealed bilayer film. By analysis of the data, we found that the values of superlocalization exponent are within 1.22 {<=} {xi} {<=} 1.29, which are higher than expected for two-dimension fractal systems. The results provided possible evidence for the superlocalization on fractal architectures in Au/Ge bilayer films. The TEP measurements are considered a more effective method than the conductivity for investigating superlocalization in a percolating system.

Thermoelectric properties of low-dimensional clathrates from first principles

Science.gov (United States)

Kasinathan, Deepa; Rosner, Helge

2011-03-01

Type-I inorganic clathrates are host-guest structures with the guest atoms trapped in the framework of the host structure. From a thermoelectric point of view, they are interesting because they are semiconductors with adjustable bandgaps. Investigations in the past decade have shown that type-I clathrates X8 Ga 16 Ge 30 (X = Ba, Sr, Eu) may have the unusual property of ``phonon glass-electron crystal'' for good thermoelectric materials. Among the known clathrates, Ba 8 Ga 16 Ge 30 has the highest figure of merit (ZT~1). To enable a more widespread usage of thermoelectric technology power generation and heating/cooling applications, ZT of at least 2-3 is required. Two different research approaches have been proposed for developing next generation thermoelectric materials: one investigating new families of advanced bulk materials, and the other studying low-dimensional materials. In our work, we concentrate on understanding the thermoelectric properties of the nanostructured Ba-based clathrates. We use semi-classical Boltzmann transport equations to calculate the various thermoelectric properties as a function of reduced dimensions. We observe that there exists a delicate balance between the electrical conductivity and the electronic part of the thermal conductivity in reduced dimensions. Insights from these results can directly be used to control particle size in nanostructuring experiments.

Effect of high pressure sintering and annealing on microstructure and thermoelectric properties of nanocrystalline Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 doped with Gd

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Ping Zou; Guiying Xun; Song Wang; Penglei Chen; Fengzhu Huang

2014-01-01

Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 of high performance doped with Gd bulk materials was prepared by a high pressure (6.0 GPa) sintering (HPS) method at 593 K, 633 K, 673 K and 693 K. The sample was then annealed for 36 h in a vacuum at 633 K. The phase composition, crystal structure and morphology of the sample were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The electric conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity aspects of the sample were measured from 298 K to 473 K. The results show that high pressure sintering and the doping with Gd has a great effect on the crystal structure and the thermoelectric properties of the samples. The samples are consisted of nanoparticles before and after annealing, and these nanostructures have good stability at high temperature. HPS together with annealing can improve the TE properties of the sample by decreasing the thermal conductivity of the sample with nanostructures. The maximum ZT value of 0.74 was obtained at 423 K for the sample, which was sintered at 673 K and then annealed at 633 K for 36 h. Compared with the zone melting sample, it was increased by 85%at 423 K. Hence the temperature of the maximum of figure of merit was increased. The results can be applied to the field of thermoelectric power generation materials.

Theoretical study of thermoelectric properties of few-layer MoS2 and WSe2.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Wen; Luo, Xin; Gan, Chee Kwan; Quek, Su Ying; Liang, Gengchiau

2014-06-14

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) are prototypical layered two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide materials, with each layer consisting of three atomic planes. We refer to each layer as a trilayer (TL). We study the thermoelectric properties of 1-4TL MoS2 and WSe2 using a ballistic transport approach based on the electronic band structures and phonon dispersions obtained from first-principles calculations. Our results show that the thickness dependence of the thermoelectric properties is different under n-type and p-type doping conditions. Defining ZT1st peak as the first peak in the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT as doping levels increase from zero at 300 K, we found that ZT1st peak decreases as the number of layers increases for MoS2, with the exception of 2TL in n-type doping, which has a slightly higher value than 1TL. However, for WSe2, 2TL has the largest ZT1st peak in both n-type and p-type doping, with a ZT1st peak value larger than 1 for n-type WSe2. At high temperatures (T > 300 K), ZT1st peak dramatically increases when the temperature increases, especially for n-type doping. The ZT1st peak of n-type 1TL-MoS2 and 2TL-WSe2 can reach 1.6 and 2.1, respectively.

Significant enhancement of thermoelectric properties and metallization of Al-doped Mg2Si under pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morozova, Natalia V.; Korobeinikov, Igor V.; Karkin, Alexander E.; Shchennikov, Vladimir V.; Ovsyannikov, Sergey V.; Takarabe, Ken-ichi; Mori, Yoshihisa; Nakamura, Shigeyuki

2014-01-01

We report results of investigations of electronic transport properties and lattice dynamics of Al-doped magnesium silicide (Mg 2 Si) thermoelectrics at ambient and high pressures to and beyond 15 GPa. High-quality samples of Mg 2 Si doped with 1 at. % of Al were prepared by spark plasma sintering technique. The samples were extensively examined at ambient pressure conditions by X-ray diffraction studies, Raman spectroscopy, electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, Hall effect, thermoelectric power (Seebeck effect), and thermal conductivity. A Kondo-like feature in the electrical resistivity curves at low temperatures indicates a possible magnetism in the samples. The absolute values of the thermopower and electrical resistivity, and Raman spectra intensity of Mg 2 Si:Al dramatically diminished upon room-temperature compression. The calculated thermoelectric power factor of Mg 2 Si:Al raised with pressure to 2–3 GPa peaking in the maximum the values as high as about 8 × 10 −3 W/(K 2 m) and then gradually decreased with further compression. Raman spectroscopy studies indicated the crossovers near ∼5–7 and ∼11–12 GPa that are likely related to phase transitions. The data gathered suggest that Mg 2 Si:Al is metallized under moderate pressures between ∼5 and 12 GPa.

Effect of Sb content on the thermoelectric properties of annealed CoSb_3 thin films deposited via RF co-sputtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, Aziz; Han, Seungwoo

2017-01-01

Graphical abstract: The X-ray diffraction patterns and temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient of the annealed Co–Sb thin films. - Highlights: • CoSb_3 phase thin films were prepared using RF co sputtering method. • Thin film thermoelectric properties were hugely dependent on Sb content. • All thin films shows n-type conduction behavior at high temperatures. • The thin films with excess Sb possess the largest Seebeck coefficient. • The thin films with CoSb_2 phase possess the largest power factor. - Abstract: A series of CoSb_3 thin films with Sb contents in the range 70–79 at.% were deposited at room temperature via RF co-sputtering. The thin films were amorphous in the as-deposited state and annealed at 300 °C for 3 h to obtain crystalline samples. The annealed thin films were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and these data indicate that the films exhibited good crystallinity. The XRD patterns indicate single-phase CoSb_3 thin films in the Sb-rich samples. For the Sb-deficient samples, however, mixed-phase thin films consisting of CoSb_2 and CoSb_3 components were obtained. The electrical and thermoelectric properties were measured at temperatures up to 760 K and found to be highly sensitive to the phases that were present. We observed a change in the thermoelectric properties of the films from p-type at low temperatures to n-type at high temperatures, which indicates potential applications as n-type thermoelectric thin films. A large Seebeck coefficient and power factor was obtained for the single-phase CoSb_3 thin films. The CoSb_2 phase thin films were also found to possess a significant Seebeck coefficient, which coupled with the much smaller electrical resistivity, provided a larger power factor than the single-phase CoSb_3 thin films. We report maximum power factor of 7.92 mW/m K"2 for the CoSb_2-containing mixed phase thin film and 1.26 mW/m K"2 for the stoichiometric CoSb_3 thin film.

Demonstration of high temperature thermoelectric waste heat recovery from exhaust gases of a combustion engine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trottmann, Matthias; Weidenkaff, Anke; Populoh, Sascha; Brunko, Oliver; Veziridis, Angelika; Bach, Christian; Cabalzar, Urs [Empa, Duebendorf (Switzerland)

2011-07-01

The energy efficiency of passenger cars becomes increasingly important due to a growing awareness in terms of climate change and shortages of resources associated with rising fuel prices. In addition to the efforts towards the optimization of the engine's internal efficiency, waste heat recovery is the main objective. In this respect, thermoelectric (TE) devices seem to be suited as heat recuperation systems. Thermoelectric generators allow for direct transformation of thermal into electrical energy. In order to thoroughly investigate this type of recovery system a TE demonstrator was mounted on the muffler of a VW Touran and tested. The waste heat of the exhaust gas was converted into electricity with a conversion rate of {proportional_to}. 3.5%. The limiting factor was the low thermal stability of the commercial modules used in this pre-study to elaborate reference values. Thermoelectric modules based on sustainable and temperature-stable materials are being developed to improve the measured values. A thermoelectric test generator with perovskite-type oxide modules was constructed confirm the function and stability at elevated temperatures. Despite all the advantages of this material class, the TE performance is still to be improved. A quantitative measure of a material's TE performance is the temperature-independent Figure of Merit ZT. ZT increases with decreasing thermal and increasing electrical conductivity. An approach to thermal conductivity reduction is nanostructuring of the material. The Ultrasonic Spray Combustion (USC) technique allows to produce powders with a grain size on the nanoscale and was tested in this study. (orig.)

Compliant Interfacial Layers in Thermoelectric Devices

Science.gov (United States)

Firdosy, Samad A. (Inventor); Li, Billy Chun-Yip (Inventor); Ravi, Vilupanur A. (Inventor); Fleurial, Jean-Pierre (Inventor); Caillat, Thierry (Inventor); Anjunyan, Harut (Inventor)

2017-01-01

A thermoelectric power generation device is disclosed using one or more mechanically compliant and thermally and electrically conductive layers at the thermoelectric material interfaces to accommodate high temperature differentials and stresses induced thereby. The compliant material may be metal foam or metal graphite composite (e.g. using nickel) and is particularly beneficial in high temperature thermoelectric generators employing Zintl thermoelectric materials. The compliant material may be disposed between the thermoelectric segments of the device or between a thermoelectric segment and the hot or cold side interconnect of the device.

The structural properties of InGaN alloys and the interdependence on the thermoelectric behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Kucukgok, Bahadir; Wu, Xuewang; Wang, Xiaojia; Liu, Zhiqiang; Ferguson, Ian T.; Lu, Na

2016-02-01

The III-Nitrides are promising candidate for high efficiency thermoelectric (TE) materials and devices due to their unique features which includes high thermal stability. A systematic study of the room temperature TE properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown InxGa1-xN were investigated for x = 0.07 to 0.24. This paper investigated the role of indium composition on the TE properties of InGaN alloys in particular the structural properties for homogenous material that did not show significant phase separation. The highest Seebeck and power factor values of 507 μV K-1 and 21.84 × 10-4 Wm-1K-1 were observed, respectively for In0.07Ga0.93N at room temperature. The highest value of figure-of-merit (ZT) was calculated to be 0.072 for In0.20Ga0.80N alloy at room temperature.

Thermoelectric properties of silicon nano pillars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stranz, Andrej; Soekmen, Uensal; Waag, Andreas; Peiner, Erwin [Institute of Semiconductor Technology, Braunschweig (Germany)

2010-07-01

In order to establish silicon as a efficient thermoelectric material, its high thermal conductivity has to be reduced which is feasible, e.g., by nano structuring. Therefore, in this study Si-based sub-micron pillars of various dimensions were investigated. Using anisotropic etching followed by thermal oxidation we could fabricate pillars of diameters <500 nm, about 25 {mu}m in height with aspect ratios of more than 50. The distance between the pillars was varied from 500 nm to 10 micron. Besides the fabrication and structural characterization of sub-micron silicon pillars, and adequate metrology for measuring their thermoelectric properties was implemented. Commercial tungsten probes and self-made gold probes, as well as Wollaston wire probes were used for electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as Seebeck voltage measurements on single pillars in a scanning electron microscope equipped with nano manipulators.

High-performance and flexible thermoelectric films by screen printing solution-processed nanoplate crystals.

Science.gov (United States)

Varghese, Tony; Hollar, Courtney; Richardson, Joseph; Kempf, Nicholas; Han, Chao; Gamarachchi, Pasindu; Estrada, David; Mehta, Rutvik J; Zhang, Yanliang

2016-09-12

Screen printing allows for direct conversion of thermoelectric nanocrystals into flexible energy harvesters and coolers. However, obtaining flexible thermoelectric materials with high figure of merit ZT through printing is an exacting challenge due to the difficulties to synthesize high-performance thermoelectric inks and the poor density and electrical conductivity of the printed films. Here, we demonstrate high-performance flexible films and devices by screen printing bismuth telluride based nanocrystal inks synthesized using a microwave-stimulated wet-chemical method. Thermoelectric films of several tens of microns thickness were screen printed onto a flexible polyimide substrate followed by cold compaction and sintering. The n-type films demonstrate a peak ZT of 0.43 along with superior flexibility, which is among the highest reported ZT values in flexible thermoelectric materials. A flexible thermoelectric device fabricated using the printed films produces a high power density of 4.1 mW/cm(2) with 60 °C temperature difference between the hot side and cold side. The highly scalable and low cost process to fabricate flexible thermoelectric materials and devices demonstrated here opens up many opportunities to transform thermoelectric energy harvesting and cooling applications.

Mg2BIV: Narrow Bandgap Thermoelectric Semiconductors

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Il-Ho

2018-05-01

Thermoelectric materials can convert thermal energy directly into electric energy and vice versa. The electricity generation from waste heat via thermoelectric devices can be considered as a new energy source. For instance, automotive exhaust gas and all industrial processes generate an enormous amount of waste heat that can be converted to electricity by using thermoelectric devices. Magnesium compound Mg2BIV (BIV = Si, Ge or Sn) has a favorable combination of physical and chemical properties and can be a good base for the development of new efficient thermoelectrics. Because they possess similar properties to those of group BIV elemental semiconductors, they have been recognized as good candidates for thermoelectric applications. Mg2Si, Mg2Ge and Mg2Sn with an antifluorite structure are narrow bandgap semiconductors with indirect band gaps of 0.77 eV, 0.74 eV, and 0.35 eV, respectively. Mg2BIV has been recognized as a promising material for thermoelectric energy conversion at temperatures ranging from 500 K to 800 K. Compared to other thermoelectric materials operating in the similar temperature range, such as PbTe and filled skutterudites, the important aspects of Mg2BIV are non-toxic and earth-abundant elements. Based on classical thermoelectric theory, the material factor β ( m* / m e)3/2μκ L -1 can be utilized as the criterion for thermoelectric material selection, where m* is the density-of-states effective mass, me is the mass of an electron, μ is the carrier mobility, and κL is the lattice thermal conductivity. The β for magnesium silicides is 14, which is very high compared to 0.8 for iron silicides, 1.4 for manganese silicides, and 2.6 for silicon-germanium alloys. In this paper, basic phenomena of thermoelectricity and transport parameters for thermoelectric materials were briefly introduced, and thermoelectric properties of Mg2BIV synthesized by using a solid-state reaction were reviewed. In addition, various Mg2BIV compounds were discussed

Thermoelectric effects in a rectangular Aharonov-Bohm geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Pye, A. J.; Faux, D. A.; Kearney, M. J.

2016-04-01

The thermoelectric transport properties of a rectangular Aharonov-Bohm ring at low temperature are investigated using a theoretical approach based on Green's functions. The oscillations in the transmission coefficient as the field is varied can be used to tune the thermoelectric response of the ring. Large magnitude thermopowers are obtainable which, in conjunction with low conductance, can result in a high thermoelectric figure of merit. The effects of single site impurities and more general Anderson disorder are considered explicitly in the context of evaluating their effect on the Fano-type resonances in the transmission coefficient. Importantly, it is shown that even for moderate levels of disorder, the thermoelectric figure of merit can remain significant, increasing the appeal of such structures from the perspective of specialist thermoelectric applications.

Effect of Sb content on the thermoelectric properties of annealed CoSb{sub 3} thin films deposited via RF co-sputtering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmed, Aziz, E-mail: aziz_ahmed@ust.ac.kr [Department of Nano-Mechatronics, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), 217 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-350 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Nano-Mechanics, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), 156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-343 (Korea, Republic of); Han, Seungwoo, E-mail: swhan@kimm.re.kr [Department of Nano-Mechatronics, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), 217 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-350 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Nano-Mechanics, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), 156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-343 (Korea, Republic of)

2017-06-30

Graphical abstract: The X-ray diffraction patterns and temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient of the annealed Co–Sb thin films. - Highlights: • CoSb{sub 3} phase thin films were prepared using RF co sputtering method. • Thin film thermoelectric properties were hugely dependent on Sb content. • All thin films shows n-type conduction behavior at high temperatures. • The thin films with excess Sb possess the largest Seebeck coefficient. • The thin films with CoSb{sub 2} phase possess the largest power factor. - Abstract: A series of CoSb{sub 3} thin films with Sb contents in the range 70–79 at.% were deposited at room temperature via RF co-sputtering. The thin films were amorphous in the as-deposited state and annealed at 300 °C for 3 h to obtain crystalline samples. The annealed thin films were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and these data indicate that the films exhibited good crystallinity. The XRD patterns indicate single-phase CoSb{sub 3} thin films in the Sb-rich samples. For the Sb-deficient samples, however, mixed-phase thin films consisting of CoSb{sub 2} and CoSb{sub 3} components were obtained. The electrical and thermoelectric properties were measured at temperatures up to 760 K and found to be highly sensitive to the phases that were present. We observed a change in the thermoelectric properties of the films from p-type at low temperatures to n-type at high temperatures, which indicates potential applications as n-type thermoelectric thin films. A large Seebeck coefficient and power factor was obtained for the single-phase CoSb{sub 3} thin films. The CoSb{sub 2} phase thin films were also found to possess a significant Seebeck coefficient, which coupled with the much smaller electrical resistivity, provided a larger power factor than the single-phase CoSb{sub 3} thin films. We report maximum power factor of 7.92 mW/m K{sup 2} for the CoSb{sub 2}-containing mixed phase thin film and 1

Evaluation of high step-up power electronics stages in thermoelectric generator systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sun, Kai; Ni, Longxian; Chen, Min

2013-01-01

To develop practical thermoelectric generator (TEG) systems, especially radioisotope thermoelectric power supplies for deep-space exploration, a power conditioning stage with high step-up gain is indispensable. This stage is used to step up the low output voltage of thermoelectric generators...... to the required high level. Furthermore, maximum power point tracking control for TEG modules needs to be implemented into the power electronics stages. In this paper, the temperature-dependent electrical characteristics of a thermoelectric generator are analyzed in depth. Three typical high step-up power...... converters suitable for TEG applications are discussed: an interleaved boost converter, a boost converter with a coupled inductor and an interleaved boost converter with an auxiliary transformer. A general comparison of the three high step-up converters is conducted to study the step-up gain, conversion...

Electrical properties and figures of merit for new chalcogenide-based thermoelectric materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schindler, J L; Hogan, T P; Brazis, P W; Kannewurf, C R; Chung, D Y; Kanatzidis, M G

1997-07-01

New Bi-based chalcogenide compounds have been prepared using the polychalcogenide flux technique for crystal growth. These materials exhibit characteristics of good thermoelectric materials. Single crystals of the compound CsBi{sub 4}Te{sub 6} have shown conductivity as high as 2440 S/cm with a p-type thermoelectric power of {approx}+110 {micro}V/K at room temperature. A second compound, {beta}-K{sub 2}Bi{sub 8}Se{sub 13} shows lower conductivity {approx}240 S/cm, but a larger n-type thermopower {approx}{minus}200 {micro}V/K. Thermal transport measurements have been performed on hot-pressed pellets of these materials and the results show comparable or lower thermal conductivities than Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}. This improvement may reflect the reduced lattice symmetry of the new chalcogenide thermoelectrics. The thermoelectric figure of merit for CsBi{sub 4}Te{sub 6} reaches ZT {approx} 0.32 at 260 K and for {beta}-K{sub 2}Bi{sub 8}Se{sub 13} ZT {approx} 0.32 at room temperature, indicating that these compounds are viable candidates for thermoelectric refrigeration applications.

The structural properties of InGaN alloys and the interdependence on the thermoelectric behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahadir Kucukgok

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The III-Nitrides are promising candidate for high efficiency thermoelectric (TE materials and devices due to their unique features which includes high thermal stability. A systematic study of the room temperature TE properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown InxGa1-xN were investigated for x =  0.07 to 0.24. This paper investigated the role of indium composition on the TE properties of InGaN alloys in particular the structural properties for homogenous material that did not show significant phase separation. The highest Seebeck and power factor values of 507 μV K−1 and 21.84 × 10−4 Wm−1K−1 were observed, respectively for In0.07Ga0.93N at room temperature. The highest value of figure-of-merit (ZT was calculated to be 0.072 for In0.20Ga0.80N alloy at room temperature.

The structural properties of InGaN alloys and the interdependence on the thermoelectric behavior

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kucukgok, Bahadir; Lu, Na, E-mail: Luna@purdue.edu [Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States); Wu, Xuewang; Wang, Xiaojia [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Liu, Zhiqiang [Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing (China); Ferguson, Ian T. [College of Engineering and Computing, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409 (United States)

2016-02-15

The III-Nitrides are promising candidate for high efficiency thermoelectric (TE) materials and devices due to their unique features which includes high thermal stability. A systematic study of the room temperature TE properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N were investigated for x =  0.07 to 0.24. This paper investigated the role of indium composition on the TE properties of InGaN alloys in particular the structural properties for homogenous material that did not show significant phase separation. The highest Seebeck and power factor values of 507 μV K{sup −1} and 21.84 × 10{sup −4} Wm{sup −1}K{sup −1} were observed, respectively for In{sub 0.07}Ga{sub 0.93}N at room temperature. The highest value of figure-of-merit (ZT) was calculated to be 0.072 for In{sub 0.20}Ga{sub 0.80}N alloy at room temperature.

Enhanced thermoelectric properties of metal film on bismuth telluride-based materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chao, Wen Hsuan; Chen, Yi Ray; Tseng, Shih Chun; Yang, Ping Hsing; Wu, Ren Jye; Hwang, Jenn Yeu

2014-01-01

Diffusion barriers have a significant influence on the reliability and life time of thermoelectric modules. Although nickel is commonly used as a diffusion barrier in commercial thermoelectric modules, several studies have verified that Ni migrates to bismuth telluride-based material during high temperature cycles and causes a loss in efficacy. In this paper, the influence of metal layers coated to p-type and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 on the interface characterization and thermoelectric property is studied using a RF magnetron sputtering. The findings from this study demonstrate the structural and thermoelectric properties of p-type and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 coated with different metal layers. The crystalline phase and compositional change of the interface between the Bi 2 Te 3 materials and the metal layers were determined using an X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy. Formation of NiTe was observed in the sample of Ni/p-type Bi 2 Te 3 based films post-annealed in an N 2 atmosphere at 200 °C. In contrast, no Co x Te y was formed in the sample of Co/p-type Bi 2 Te 3 based films post-annealed at 200 °C. For as-deposited Ni/p-type and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 based legs, the Ni slightly diffused into the Bi 2 Te 3 based legs. A similar phenomenon also occurred in the as-deposited Co/p-type and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 based legs. The Seebeck coefficients of the Co contacts on the Bi 2 Te 3 based material displayed better behavior than those of the Ni contacts on the Bi 2 Te 3 based legs. Thus Co could be a suitable diffusion barrier for bulk Bi 2 Te 3 based material. The observed effects on the thermoelectric and structural properties of metal/Bi 2 Te 3 based material are crucial for understanding the interface between the diffusion barrier and thermoelectric materials. - Highlights: • Interface characterization of metal coated to p-type and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 is studied. • We examined the phase transformation of metal/Bi 2 Te 3 based films

Thermoelectric properties of fine-grained FeVSb half-Heusler alloys tuned to p-type by substituting vanadium with titanium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zou, Minmin; Li, Jing-Feng; Kita, Takuji

2013-01-01

Fine-grained Ti-doped FeVSb half-Heusler alloys were synthesized by combining mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering and their thermoelectric properties were investigated with an emphasis on the influences of Ti doping and phase purity. It was found that substituting V with Ti can change the electrical transport behavior from n-type to p-type due to one less valence electron of Ti than V, and the sample with nominal composition FeV 0.8 Ti 0.4 Sb exhibits the largest Seebeck coefficient and the maximum power factor. By optimizing the sintering temperature and applying annealing treatment, the power factor is significantly improved and the thermal conductivity is reduced simultaneously, resulting in a ZT value of 0.43 at 500 °C, which is relatively high as for p-type half-Heusler alloys containing earth-abundant elements. - Graphical abstract: Fine-grained Ti-doped FeVSb alloys were prepared by the MA-SPS method. The maximum ZT value reaches 0.43 at 500 °C, which is relatively high for p-type half-Heusler alloys. Highlights: ► Ti-doped FeVSb half-Heusler alloys were synthesized by combining MA and SPS. ► Substituting V with Ti changes the electrical behavior from n-type to p-type. ► Thermoelectric properties are improved by optimizing sintering temperature. ► Thermoelectric properties are further improved by applying annealing treatment. ► A high ZT value of 0.43 is obtained at 500 °C for p-type Ti-doped FeVSb alloys.

Thermoelectric Properties of Hot-Pressed and PECS-Sintered Magnesium-Doped Copper Aluminum Oxide

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chang; Morelli, Donald T.

2011-05-01

Copper aluminum oxide (CuAlO2) is considered as a potential candidate for thermoelectric applications. Partially magnesium-doped CuAlO2 bulk pellets were fabricated using solid-state reactions, hot-pressing, and pulsed electric current sintering (PECS) techniques. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were adopted for structural analysis. High-temperature transport property measurements were performed on hot-pressed samples. Electrical conductivity increased with Mg doping before secondary phases became significant, while the Seebeck coefficient displayed the opposite trend. Thermal conductivity was consistently reduced as the Mg concentration increased. Effects of Mg doping, preparation conditions, and future modification on this material's properties are discussed.

Thermoelectric properties of V{sub 2}O{sub 5} thin films deposited by thermal evaporation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos, R.; Loureiro, J., E-mail: joa.loureiro@gmail.com; Nogueira, A.; Elangovan, E.; Pinto, J.V.; Veiga, J.P.; Busani, T.; Fortunato, E.; Martins, R.; Ferreira, I., E-mail: imf@fct.unl.pt

2013-10-01

This work reports the structural, optical, electrical and thermoelectric properties of vanadium pentoxide (V{sub 2}O{sub 5}) thin films deposited at room temperature by thermal evaporation on Corning glass substrates. A post-deposition thermal treatment up to 973 K under atmospheric conditions induces the crystallization of the as-deposited amorphous films with an orthorhombic V{sub 2}O{sub 5} phase with grain sizes around 26 nm. As the annealing temperature rises up to 773 K the electrical conductivity increases. The films exhibit thermoelectric properties with a maximum Seebeck coefficient of −218 μV/K and electrical conductivity of 5.5 (Ω m){sup −1}. All the films show NIR-Vis optical transmittance above 60% and optical band gap of 2.8 eV.

Structural, elastic, electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties of the Zintl-phase Ae3AlAs3 (Ae = Sr, Ba)

Science.gov (United States)

Benahmed, A.; Bouhemadou, A.; Alqarni, B.; Guechi, N.; Al-Douri, Y.; Khenata, R.; Bin-Omran, S.

2018-05-01

First-principles calculations were performed to investigate the structural, elastic, electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties of the Zintl-phase Ae3AlAs3 (Ae = Sr, Ba) using two complementary approaches based on density functional theory. The pseudopotential plane-wave method was used to explore the structural and elastic properties whereas the full-potential linearised augmented plane wave approach was used to study the structural, electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties. The calculated structural parameters are in good consistency with the corresponding measured ones. The single-crystal and polycrystalline elastic constants and related properties were examined in details. The electronic properties, including energy band dispersions, density of states and charge-carrier effective masses, were computed using Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson functional for the exchange-correlation potential. It is found that both studied compounds are direct band gap semiconductors. Frequency-dependence of the linear optical functions were predicted for a wide photon energy range up to 15 eV. Charge carrier concentration and temperature dependences of the basic parameters of the thermoelectric properties were explored using the semi-classical Boltzmann transport model. Our calculations unveil that the studied compounds are characterised by a high thermopower for both carriers, especially the p-type conduction is more favourable.

Microstructure and thermoelectric properties of β-FeSi2 ceramics fabricated by hot-pressing and spark plasma sintering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qu Xiurong; Lue Shuchen; Hu Jianmin; Meng Qingyu

2011-01-01

Highlights: → With increasing hot-pressing (HP) temperature, the thermoelectric figure of merit of β-FeSi 2 ceramics is improved slightly. → The grain size of the sample sintered by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process is smaller than that by the HP process. → The SPS sample shows excellent thermoelectric performance attributed to low thermal conductivity. - Abstract: The microstructure and thermoelectric properties of β-FeSi 2 ceramics by hot pressing (HP) and spark plasma sintering (SPS) are investigated. With increasing hot-pressing temperature, the density, electronic conductivity and thermal conductivity of the samples increase significantly, the thermoelectric figure of merit is improved slightly. The microstructure study indicates that the sizes of the β-FeSi 2 and ε-FeSi phases in the sample sintered by the SPS process are smaller than that by the HP process. The SPS sample shows excellent thermoelectric performance due to the low thermal conductivity.

Doping site dependent thermoelectric properties of epitaxial strontium titanate thin films

KAUST Repository

Abutaha, Anas I.; Sarath Kumar, S. R.; Mehdizadeh Dehkordi, Arash; Tritt, Terry M.; Alshareef, Husam N.

2014-01-01

We demonstrate that the thermoelectric properties of epitaxial strontium titanate (STO) thin films can be improved by additional B-site doping of A-site doped ABO3 type perovskite STO. The additional B-site doping of A-site doped STO results in increased electrical conductivity, but at the expense of Seebeck coefficient. However, doping on both sites of the STO lattice significantly reduces the lattice thermal conductivity of STO by adding more densely and strategically distributed phononic scattering centers that attack wider phonon spectra. The additional B-site doping limits the trade-off relationship between the electrical conductivity and total thermal conductivity of A-site doped STO, leading to an improvement in the room-temperature thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT. The 5% Pr3+ and 20% Nb5+ double-doped STO film exhibits the best ZT of 0.016 at room temperature. This journal is

Dynamic thermoelectricity in uniform bipolar semiconductor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Volovichev, I.N., E-mail: vin@ire.kharkov.ua

2016-07-01

The theory of the dynamic thermoelectric effect has been developed. The effect lies in an electric current flowing in a closed circuit that consists of a uniform bipolar semiconductor, in which a non-uniform temperature distribution in the form of the traveling wave is created. The calculations are performed for the one-dimensional model in the quasi-neutrality approximation. It was shown that the direct thermoelectric current prevails, despite the periodicity of the thermal excitation, the circuit homogeneity and the lack of rectifier properties of the semiconductor system. Several physical reasons underlining the dynamic thermoelectric effect are found. One of them is similar to the Dember photoelectric effect, its contribution to the current flowing is determined by the difference in the electron and hole mobilities, and is completely independent of the carrier Seebeck coefficients. The dependence of the thermoelectric short circuit current magnitude on the semiconductor parameters, as well as on the temperature wave amplitude, length and velocity is studied. It is shown that the magnitude of the thermoelectric current is proportional to the square of the temperature wave amplitude. The dependence of the thermoelectric short circuit current on the temperature wave length and velocity is the nonmonotonic function. The optimum values for the temperature wave length and velocity, at which the dynamic thermoelectric effect is the greatest, have been deduced. It is found that the thermoelectric short circuit current changes its direction with decreasing the temperature wave length under certain conditions. The prospects for the possible applications of the dynamic thermoelectric effect are also discussed.

Synthesis, characterization and thermoelectric properties of metal borides, boron carbides and carbaborides; Synthese, Charakterisierung und thermoelektrische Eigenschaften ausgewaehlter Metallboride, Borcarbide und Carbaboride

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guersoy, Murat

2015-07-06

This work reports on the solid state synthesis and structural and thermoelectrical characterization of hexaborides (CaB{sub 6}, SrB{sub 6}, BaB{sub 6}, EuB{sub 6}), diboride dicarbides (CeB{sub 2}C{sub 2}, LaB{sub 2}C{sub 2}), a carbaboride (NaB{sub 5}C) and composites of boron carbide. The characterization was performed by X-ray diffraction methods and Rietveld refinements based on structure models from literature. Most of the compounds were densified by spark plasma sintering at 100 MPa. As high-temperature thermoelectric properties the Seebeck coefficients, electrical conductivities, thermal diffusivities and heat capacities were measured between room temperature and 1073 K. ZT values as high as 0.5 at 1273 K were obtained for n-type conducting EuB{sub 6}. High-temperature X-ray diffraction also confirmed its thermal stability. The solid solutions Ca{sub x}Sr{sub 1-x}B{sub 6}, Ca{sub x}Ba{sub 1-x}B{sub 6} and Sr{sub x}Ba{sub 1-x}B{sub 6} (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) are also n-type but did not show better ZT values for the ternary compounds compared to the binaries, but for CaB{sub 6} the values of the figure of merit (ca. 0.3 at 1073 K) were significantly increased (ca. 50 %) compared to earlier investigations which is attributed to the densification process. Sodium carbaboride, NaB{sub 5}C, was found to be the first p-type thermoelectric material that crystallizes with the hexaboride-structure type. Seebeck coefficients of ca. 80 μV . K{sup -1} were obtained. Cerium diboride dicarbide, CeB{sub 2}C{sub 2}, and lanthanum diboride dicarbide, LaB{sub 2}C{sub 2}, are metallic. Both compounds were used as model compounds to develop compacting strategies for such layered borides. Densities obtained at 50 MPa were determined to be higher than 90 %. A new synthesis route using single source precursors that contain boron and carbon was developed to open the access to new metal-doped boron carbides. It was possible to obtain boron carbide, but metal-doping could not be

Magnetic and thermoelectric properties of electron doped Ca{sub 0.85}Pr{sub 0.15}MnO{sub 3}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hossain Khan, Momin [Department of Physics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani 741235, West Bengal (India); Pal, Sudipta, E-mail: sudipta.pal@rediffmail.com [Department of Physics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani 741235, West Bengal (India); Bose, Esa [Department of Engineering Physics, B. P. P. I. M.T, Kolkata 700052, West Bengal (India)

2015-10-01

We have investigated temperature-dependent magnetization (M), magnetic susceptibility (χ) and thermoelectric (S) properties of the electron-doped Ca{sub 0.85}Pr{sub 0.15}MnO{sub 3}. With decrease of temperature, paramagnetic (PM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transition occurs with a well-defined Néel temperature (T{sub N}=122 K). Magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal that the paramagnetic state involves modified Curie–Weiss paramagnetism. Field cooled and zero field cooled magnetization measurements indicate a signature of magnetic frustration. Ferromagnetic (FM) double-exchange interactions associated with doped e{sub g} electrons are favored over competing AFM interactions below T{sub irr}=112 K. Magnetization data also shows a second-order phase transition. The sign reversal in S(T) has been interpreted in terms of the change in the electronic structure relating to the orbital degrees of freedom of the doped e{sub g} electron. Low temperature (5–140 K) thermoelectric power, S (T) signifies the importance of electron–magnon scattering process. - Highlights: • Magnetic and thermoelectric properties have been investigated in Ca{sub 0.85}Pr{sub 0.15}MnO{sub 3}. • It shows a PM–AFM second order phase transition at T{sub N}=122 K. • PM state involves modified Curie–Weiss paramagnetism. • The electron–magnon scattering dominates temperature dependent thermoelectric power.

Numerical simulations on the temperature gradient and thermal stress of a thermoelectric power generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Yongjia; Ming, Tingzhen; Li, Xiaohua; Pan, Tao; Peng, Keyuan; Luo, Xiaobing

2014-01-01

Highlights: • An appropriate ceramic plate thickness is effective in alleviating the thermal stress. • A smaller distance between thermo-pins can help prolong lifecycle of the TE module. • Either a thicker or a thinner copper conducting strip effectively reduces thermal stress. • A suitable tin soldering thickness will alleviate thermal stress intensity and increase thermal efficiency. - Abstract: Thermoelectric generator is a device taking advantage of the temperature difference in thermoelectric material to generate electric power, where the higher the temperature difference of the hot-cold ends, the higher the efficiency will be. However, higher temperature or higher heat flux upon the hot end will cause strong thermal stress which will negatively influence the lifecycle of the thermoelectric module. This phenomenon is very common in industrial applications but seldom has research work been reported. In this paper, numerical analysis on the thermodynamics and thermal stress performance of the thermoelectric module has been performed, considering the variation on the thickness of materials; the influence of high heat flux on thermal efficiency, power output, and thermal stress has been examined. It is found that under high heat flux imposing upon the hot end, the thermal stress is so strong that it has a decisive effect on the life expectation of the device. To improve the module’s working condition, different geometrical configurations are tested and the optimum sizes are achieved. Besides, the side effects on the efficiency, power output, and open circuit voltage output of the thermoelectric module are taken into consideration

Thermoelectric properties of the misfit cobaltate Ca3Co4O9

KAUST Repository

Amin, Bin; Eckern, Ulrich; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

2017-01-01

The layered misfit cobaltate CaCoO, also known as CaCoO[CoO], is a promising p-type thermoelectric oxide. Employing density functional theory, we study its electronic structure and determine, on the basis of Boltzmann theory within the constant-relaxation-time approximation, the thermoelectric transport coefficients. The dependence on strain and temperature is determined. In particular, we find that the XX-component of the thermopower is strongly enhanced, while the yy-component is strongly reduced, when applying 2% tensile strain. A similar anisotropy is also found in the power factor. The temperature dependence of the conductivity in the a-b plane is found to be rather weak above 200 K, which clearly indicates that the experimentally observed transport properties are dominated by inhomogeneities arising during sample growth, i.e., they are not intrinsic.

Thermoelectric properties of the misfit cobaltate Ca3Co4O9

KAUST Repository

Amin, Bin

2017-06-09

The layered misfit cobaltate CaCoO, also known as CaCoO[CoO], is a promising p-type thermoelectric oxide. Employing density functional theory, we study its electronic structure and determine, on the basis of Boltzmann theory within the constant-relaxation-time approximation, the thermoelectric transport coefficients. The dependence on strain and temperature is determined. In particular, we find that the XX-component of the thermopower is strongly enhanced, while the yy-component is strongly reduced, when applying 2% tensile strain. A similar anisotropy is also found in the power factor. The temperature dependence of the conductivity in the a-b plane is found to be rather weak above 200 K, which clearly indicates that the experimentally observed transport properties are dominated by inhomogeneities arising during sample growth, i.e., they are not intrinsic.

A Review of SnSe: Growth and Thermoelectric Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Van Quang; Kim, Jungdae; Cho, Sunglae

2018-04-01

SnSe is a 2D semiconductor with an indirect energy gap of 0.86 - 1 eV; it is widely used in solar cell, optoelectronics, and electronic device applications. Recently, SnSe has been considered as a robust candidate for energy conversion applications due to its high thermoelectric performance ( ZT = 2.6 in p-type and 2.2 in n-type), which is assigned mainly to its anhamornic bonding leading to an ultralow thermal conductivity. In this review, we first discuss the crystalline and electronic structures of SnSe and the source of its p-type characteristic. Then, some typical single crystal and polycrystal growth techniques, as well as an epitaxial thin film growth technique, are outlined. The reported thermoelectric properties of SnSe grown by using each technique are also reviewed. Finally, we will describe some remaining issues concerning the use of SnSe for thermoelectric applications.

Thermoelectric properties of In-substituted Ge-based clathrates prepared by HPHT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Binwu Liu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Bulk materials Ba8Ga16InxGe30-x (x = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 were prepared by High-Pressure and High-Temperature (HPHT method and the crystal structure has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction and cell refinement. The actual In composition was much lower than the starting composition, and lattice constants increased with the increase of substitution. As the temperature increased, the Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity increased first and then decreased, while the thermal conductivity was the opposite, which leads to significant enhancement on thermoelectric properties of the clathrates. The substitution of indium elements decreased the seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity, and also changed the microstructure of the compounds. A minimum thermal conductivity of 0.84 Wm−1K−1 was obtained, and a good ZT value of 0.52 was achieved. The grain boundaries and lattice defects generated by high pressure can effectively scatter phonons of different frequencies, which reduce the lattice thermal conductivity.

An additive approach to low temperature zero pressure sintering of bismuth antimony telluride thermoelectric materials

Science.gov (United States)

Catlin, Glenn C.; Tripathi, Rajesh; Nunes, Geoffrey; Lynch, Philip B.; Jones, Howard D.; Schmitt, Devin C.

2017-03-01

This paper presents an additive-based approach to the formulation of thermoelectric materials suitable for screen printing. Such printing processes are a likely route to such thermoelectric applications as micro-generators for wireless sensor networks and medical devices, but require the development of materials that can be sintered at ambient pressure and low temperatures. Using a rapid screening process, we identify the eutectic combination of antimony and tellurium as an additive for bismuth-antimony-telluride that enables good thermoelectric performance without a high pressure step. An optimized composite of 15 weight percent Sb7.5Te92.5 in Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 is scaled up and formulated into a screen-printable paste. Samples fabricated from this paste achieve a thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 0.74 using a maximum processing temperature of 748 K and a total thermal processing budget of 12 K-hours.

Nano-Micro Materials Enabled Thermoelectricity From Window Glasses

KAUST Repository

Inayat, Salman Bin

2012-11-03

With growing world population and decreasing fossil fuel reserves we need to explore and utilize variety of renewable and clean energy sources to meet the imminent challenge of energy crisis. Solar energy is considered as the leading promising alternate energy source with the pertinent challenge of off sunshine period and uneven worldwide distribution of usable sun light. Although thermoelectricity is considered as a reasonable energy harvester from wasted heat, its mass scale usage is yet to be developed. By transforming window glasses into generators of thermoelectricity, this doctoral work explores engineering aspects of using the temperature gradient between the hot outdoor heated by the sun and the relatively cold indoor of a building for mass scale energy generation. In order to utilize the two counter temperature environments simultaneously, variety of techniques, including: a) insertion of basic metals like copper and nickel wire, b) sputtering of thermoelectric films on side walls of individual glass strips to form the thickness depth of the glass on subsequent curing of the strips, and c) embedding nano-manufactured thermoelectric pillars, have been implemented for innovative integration of thermoelectric materials into window glasses. The practical demonstration of thermoelectric windows has been validated using a finite element model to predict the behavior of thermoelectric window under variety of varying conditions. MEMS based characterization platform has been fabricated for thermoelectric characterization of thin films employing van der Pauw and four probe modules. Enhancement of thermoelectric properties of the nano- manufactured pillars due to nano-structuring, achieved through mechanical alloying of micro-sized thermoelectric powders, has been explored. Modulation of thermoelectric properties of the nano-structured thermoelectric pillars by addition of sulfur to nano-powder matrix has also been investigated in detail. Using the best possible p

Lead telluride with increased mechanical stability for cylindrical thermoelectric generators; Bleitellurid mit erhoehter mechanischer Stabilitaet fuer zylindrische thermoelektrische Generatoren

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmitz, Andreas

2013-04-30

The aim of this work is to improve the mechanical stability of lead telluride (PbTe), trying to vary its mechanical properties independently from its thermoelectric properties. Thus the influence of material preparation as well as different dopants on the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of lead telluride is being analysed. When using appropriately set process parameters, milling and sintering of lead telluride increases the material's hardness. With sintering temperatures exceeding 300 C stable material of high relative density can be achieved. Milling lead telluride generates lattice defects leading to a reduction of the material's charge carrier density. These defects can be reduced by increased sintering temperatures. Contamination of the powder due to the milling process leads to bloating during thermal cycling and thus reduced density of the sintered material. In addition to that, evaporation of tellurium at elevated temperatures causes instability of the material's thermoelectric properties. Based on the experimental results obtained in this work, the best thermoelectric and mechanical properties can be obtained by sintering coarse powders at around 400 C. Within this work a concept was developed to vary the mechanical properties of lead telluride via synthesis of PbTe with electrically nondoping elements, which thus may keep the thermoelectric properties unchanged. Therefore, the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of Pb{sub 1-x}Ca{sub x}Te were investigated. Doping pure PbTe with calcium causes a significant increase of the material's hardness while only slightly decreasing the charge carrier density and thus keeping the thermoelectric properties apart from a slight reduction of the electrical conductivity nearly unchanged. The abovementioned concept is proven using sodium doped lead telluride, as it is used for thermoelectric generators: The additional doping with calcium again increases the material's hardness while its thermoelectric

Lead telluride with increased mechanical stability for cylindrical thermoelectric generators; Bleitellurid mit erhoehter mechanischer Stabilitaet fuer zylindrische thermoelektrische Generatoren

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmitz, Andreas

2013-04-30

The aim of this work is to improve the mechanical stability of lead telluride (PbTe), trying to vary its mechanical properties independently from its thermoelectric properties. Thus the influence of material preparation as well as different dopants on the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of lead telluride is being analysed. When using appropriately set process parameters, milling and sintering of lead telluride increases the material's hardness. With sintering temperatures exceeding 300 C stable material of high relative density can be achieved. Milling lead telluride generates lattice defects leading to a reduction of the material's charge carrier density. These defects can be reduced by increased sintering temperatures. Contamination of the powder due to the milling process leads to bloating during thermal cycling and thus reduced density of the sintered material. In addition to that, evaporation of tellurium at elevated temperatures causes instability of the material's thermoelectric properties. Based on the experimental results obtained in this work, the best thermoelectric and mechanical properties can be obtained by sintering coarse powders at around 400 C. Within this work a concept was developed to vary the mechanical properties of lead telluride via synthesis of PbTe with electrically nondoping elements, which thus may keep the thermoelectric properties unchanged. Therefore, the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of Pb{sub 1-x}Ca{sub x}Te were investigated. Doping pure PbTe with calcium causes a significant increase of the material's hardness while only slightly decreasing the charge carrier density and thus keeping the thermoelectric properties apart from a slight reduction of the electrical conductivity nearly unchanged. The abovementioned concept is proven using sodium doped lead telluride, as it is used for thermoelectric generators: The additional doping with calcium again increases the material's hardness while

Ab initio study of thermoelectric properties of doped SnO_2 superlattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borges, P.D.; Silva, D.E.S.; Castro, N.S.; Ferreira, C.R.; Pinto, F.G.; Tronto, J.; Scolfaro, L.

2015-01-01

Transparent conductive oxides, such as tin dioxide (SnO_2), have recently shown to be promising materials for thermoelectric applications. In this work we studied the thermoelectric properties of Fe-, Sb- and Zn-uniformly doping and co-doping SnO_2, as well as of Sb and Zn planar (or delta)-doped layers in SnO_2 forming oxide superlattices (SLs). Based on the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equations (BTE) in conjunction with ab initio electronic structure calculations, the Seebeck coefficient (S) and figure of merit (ZT) are obtained for these systems, and are compared with available experimental data. The delta doping approach introduces a remarkable modification in the electronic structure of tin dioxide, when compared with the uniform doping, and colossal values for ZT are predicted for the delta-doped oxide SLs. This result is a consequence of the two-dimensional electronic confinement and the strong anisotropy introduced by the doped planes. In comparison with the uniformly doped systems, our predictions reveal a promising use of delta-doped SnO_2 SLs for enhanced S and ZT, which emerge as potential candidates for thermoelectric applications. - Graphical abstract: Band structure and Figure of merit for SnO2:Sb superlattice along Z direction, P. D. Borges, D. E. S. Silva, N. S. Castro, C. R. Ferreira, F. G. Pinto, J. Tronto and L. Scolfaro, Ab initio study of thermoelectric properties of doped SnO2 superlattices. - Highlights: • Thermoelectric properties of SnO_2-based alloys and superlattices. • High figure of merit is predicted for planar-doped SnO_2 superlattices. • Nanotechnology has an important role for the development of thermoelectric devices.

Thermoelectric Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Peng; Berkun, Isil; Schmidt, Robert D.; Luzenski, Matthew F.; Lu, Xu; Bordon Sarac, Patricia; Case, Eldon D.; Hogan, Timothy P.

2014-06-01

Mg2(Si,Sn) compounds are promising candidate low-cost, lightweight, nontoxic thermoelectric materials made from abundant elements and are suited for power generation applications in the intermediate temperature range of 600 K to 800 K. Knowledge on the transport and mechanical properties of Mg2(Si,Sn) compounds is essential to the design of Mg2(Si,Sn)-based thermoelectric devices. In this work, such materials were synthesized using the molten-salt sealing method and were powder processed, followed by pulsed electric sintering densification. A set of Mg2.08Si0.4- x Sn0.6Sb x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.072) compounds were investigated, and a peak ZT of 1.50 was obtained at 716 K in Mg2.08Si0.364Sn0.6Sb0.036. The high ZT is attributed to a high electrical conductivity in these samples, possibly caused by a magnesium deficiency in the final product. The mechanical response of the material to stresses is a function of the elastic moduli. The temperature-dependent Young's modulus, shear modulus, bulk modulus, Poisson's ratio, acoustic wave speeds, and acoustic Debye temperature of the undoped Mg2(Si,Sn) compounds were measured using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy from 295 K to 603 K. In addition, the hardness and fracture toughness were measured at room temperature.

Electronic structure and physical properties of Heusler compounds for thermoelectric and spintronic applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ouardi, Siham

2012-01-01

This thesis focuses on synthesis as well as investigations of the electronic structure and properties of Heusler compounds for spintronic and thermoelectric applications. The first part reports on the electronic and crystal structure as well as the mechanical, magnetic, and transport properties of the polycrystalline Heusler compound Co 2 MnGe. The crystalline structure was examined in detail by extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and anomalous X-ray diffraction. The low-temperature magnetic moment agrees well with the Slater-Pauling rule and indicates a half-metallic ferromagnetic state of the compound, as is predicted by ab-initio calculations. Transport measurements and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) were performed to explain the electronic structure of the compound. A major part of the thesis deals with a systematical investigation of Heusler compounds for thermoelectric applications. This thesis focuses on the search for new p-type Heusler compounds with high thermoelectric efficiency. The substitutional series NiTi 1-x M x Sn (where M=Sc, V and 0 0.26 Sc 0.04 Zr 0.35 Hf 0.35 Sn. HAXPES valence band measurement show massive in gap states for the parent compounds NiTiSn, CoTiSb and NiTi 0.3 Zr 0.35 Hf 0.35 Sn. This proves that the electronic states close to the Fermi energy play a key role for the behavior of the transport properties. Furthermore, the electronic structure of the gapless Heusler compounds PtYSb, PtLaBi and PtLuSb were investigated by bulk sensitive HAXPES. The linear behavior of the spectra close to εF proves the bulk origin of Dirac-cone type density of states. Furthermore, a systematic study on the optical and transport properties of PtYSb is presented. The compound exhibits promising thermoelectric properties with a high figure of merit (ZT=0.2) and a Hall mobility μh of 300 cm 2 /Vs at 350 K. The last part of this thesis describes the linear dichroism in angular-resolved photoemission from the valence band

Improvement of thermoelectric properties for half-Heusler TiNiSn by interstitial Ni defects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazama, Hirofumi; Matsubara, Masato; Asahi, Ryoji; Takeuchi, Tsunehiro

2011-01-01

We have synthesized off-stoichiometric Ti-Ni-Sn half-Heusler thermoelectrics in order to investigate the relation between randomly distributed defects and thermoelectric properties. A small change in the composition of Ti-Ni-Sn causes a remarkable change in the thermal conductivity. An excess content of Ni realizes a low thermal conductivity of 2.93 W/mK at room temperature while keeping a high power factor. The low thermal conductivity originates in the defects generated by an excess content of Ni. To investigate the detailed defect structure, we have performed first-principles calculations and compared with x ray photoemission spectroscopy measurement. Based on these analyses, we conclude that the excess Ni atoms randomly occupy the vacant sites in the half-Heusler structure, which play as phonon scattering centers, resulting in significant improvement of the figure of merit without any substitutions of expensive heavy elements, such as Zr and Hf.

Efficient p-n junction-based thermoelectric generator that can operate at extreme temperature conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Chavez, Ruben; Angst, Sebastian; Hall, Joseph; Maculewicz, Franziska; Stoetzel, Julia; Wiggers, Hartmut; Thanh Hung, Le; Van Nong, Ngo; Pryds, Nini; Span, Gerhard; Wolf, Dietrich E.; Schmechel, Roland; Schierning, Gabi

2018-01-01

In many industrial processes, a large proportion of energy is lost in the form of heat. Thermoelectric generators can convert this waste heat into electricity by means of the Seebeck effect. However, the use of thermoelectric generators in practical applications on an industrial scale is limited in part because electrical, thermal, and mechanical bonding contacts between the semiconductor materials and the metal electrodes in current designs are not capable of withstanding thermal-mechanical stress and alloying of the metal-semiconductor interface when exposed to the high temperatures occurring in many real-world applications. Here we demonstrate a concept for thermoelectric generators that can address this issue by replacing the metallization and electrode bonding on the hot side of the device by a p-n junction between the two semiconductor materials, making the device robust against temperature induced failure. In our proof-of-principle demonstration, a p-n junction device made from nanocrystalline silicon is at least comparable in its efficiency and power output to conventional devices of the same material and fabrication process, but with the advantage of sustaining high hot side temperatures and oxidative atmosphere.

Thermoelectric transport properties of BaBiTe{sub 3}-based materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Yiming; Zhao, Li-Dong, E-mail: zhaolidong@buaa.edu.cn

2017-05-15

BaBiTe{sub 3}, a material with low thermal conductivity, is an inferior thermoelectric material due to the poor electrical properties originated from its narrow band gap. We choose two types of dopants, K and La, trying to optimize its electrical transport properties. The minority carriers, which harm the Seebeck coefficient in this system, are suppressed by La doping. With the increase of both electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, the power factor of 3% La doped BaBiTe{sub 3} reaches 3.7 μW cm{sup −1} K{sup −2} which increased by 40% from undoped BaBiTe{sub 3}. Besides high power factor, the thermal conductivity is also reduced in it. Eventually, a high ZT value, 0.25 at 473 K, for n-type BaBiTe{sub 3} is achieved in 3% La doped BaBiTe{sub 3}. - Graphical abstract: BaBiTe{sub 3} possesses a low thermal conductivity. However, it is an inferior thermoelectric material due to the poor electrical properties originated from its narrow band gap. A high ZT value of 0.25 at 473 K for n-type BaBiTe{sub 3} can be achieved through optimizing electrical transport properties via La doping. - Highlights: • BaBiTe{sub 3} is an analogue of these promising thermoelectric materials: such as CsBi{sub 4}Te{sub 6} and K{sub 2}Bi{sub 8}Se{sub 13}, etc. • BaBiTe{sub 3} possesses a low thermal conductivity. • La is an effective dopant to enhance electrical transport properties. • A high ZT value of 0.25 at 473 K can be achieved in n-type La-doped BaBiTe{sub 3}.

First-principles study of thermoelectric properties of CuI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yadav, Manoj K; Sanyal, Biplab

2014-01-01

Theoretical investigations of the thermoelectric properties of CuI have been carried out employing first-principles calculations followed by the calculations of transport coefficients based on Boltzmann transport theory. Among the three different phases of CuI, viz. zinc-blende, wurtzite and rock salt, the thermoelectric power factor is found to be the maximum for the rock salt phase. We have analysed the variations of Seebeck coefficients and thermoelectric power factors on the basis of calculated electronic structures near the valence band maxima of these phases. (papers)

From phase-change materials to thermoelectrics?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schneider, Matthias N.; Rosenthal, Tobias; Oeckler, Oliver [Dept. of Chemistry, Ludwig Maximilian Univ. Munich (Germany); Stiewe, Christian [German Aerospace Center, Cologne (Germany)

2010-07-01

Metastable tellurides play an important role as phase-change materials in data storage media and non-volatile RAM devices. The corresponding crystalline phases with very simple basic structures are not stable as bulk materials at ambient conditions, however, for a broad range of compositions they represent stable high-temperature phases. In the system Ge/Sb/Te, rocksalt-type high-temperature phases are characterized by a large number of vacancies randomly distributed over the cation position, which order as 2D vacancy layers upon cooling. Short-range order in quenched samples produces pronounced nanostructures by the formation of twin domains and finite intersecting vacancy layers. As phase-change materials are usually semimetals or small-bandgap semiconductors and efficient data storage requires low thermal conductivity, bulk materials with similar compositions and properties can be expected to exhibit promising thermoelectric characteristics. Nanostructuring by phase transitions that involve partial vacancy ordering may enhance the efficiency of such thermoelectrics. We have shown that germanium antimony tellurides with compositions close to those used as phase-change materials in rewritable Blu-Ray Discs, e.g. (GeTe){sub 12}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}, exhibit thermoelectric figures of merit of up to ZT = 1.3 at 450 C if a nanodomain structure is induced by rapidly quenching the cubic high-temperature phase. Structural changes have been elucidated by X-ray diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy. (orig.)

Electronic Structure and Thermoelectric Properties of Ca3 Co4O9

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2006-01-01

The relation among electronic structure, chemical bond and thermoelectric property of Ca3 Co4 O9 was studied using density function and discrete variation method (DFT-DVM).The gap between the highest valence band (HVB) and the lowest conduction band (LCB) shows a semiconducting property.Ca3 Co4 O9 colsists of CoO2 and Ca2 CoO3 two layers.The HVB and LCB near Fermi level are only mainly from O(2) 2p and Co(2) 3d in Ca2 CoO3 layer. Therefore, the semiconducting or thermoelectric property of Ca3 Co4 O9 should be mainly from Ca2 CoO3 layer, but it seems to have no direct relation to the CoO2 layer,which is consistent with that binary oxides hardly have a thermoelectric property, but trinary oxide compounds have quite a good thermoelectric property.The covalent and ionic bonds of Ca2 CoO3 layer are both weaker than those of CoO2 layer.Ca plays the role of connections between CoO2 and Ca2 CoO3 layers in Ca3 Co4 O9, decrease the ionic and covalent bond strength, and improve the thermoelectric property.

Refractiry metal monocrystals in high temperature thermometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuritnyk, I.P.

1988-01-01

The regularities of changes in thermoelectric properties of refractory metals in a wide temperature range (300-2300 K) depending on their structural state and impurities, are generalized. It is found that the main reasons for changes in thermo-e.m.f. of refractory metals during their operation in various media are diffusion processes and local microvoltages appearing in nonhomogeneous thermoelectrodes. It is shown that microstructure formation and control of impurities in thermometric materials permit to improve considerably the metrologic parameters of thermal transformers. Tungsten and molybdenum with monocrystalline structure with their high stability of properties, easy to manufacture and opening new possibilities in high-temperature contact measurement are used in thermometry for the first time

Effect of linear temperature dependence of thermoelectric properties on energy conversion efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamashita, Osamu

2008-01-01

New thermal rate equations were developed by taking the temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity ρ and thermal conductivity κ of the thermoelectric (TE) materials into the thermal rate equations on the assumption that they vary linearly with temperature T. The relative energy conversion efficiency η/η 0 for a single TE element was formulated by approximate analysis, where η and η 0 are the energy conversion efficiencies derived from the new and conventional thermal rate equations, respectively. Applying it to Si-Ge alloys, the temperature dependence of ρ is stronger than that of κ, so the former has a more significant effect on η/η 0 than the latter. However, the degree of contribution from both of them to η/η 0 was a little lower than 1% at the temperature difference ΔT of 600 K. When the temperature dependence of κ was increased to become equal to that of ρ, however, it was found that η/η 0 is increased by about 10% at ΔT = 600 K. It is clarified here that the temperature dependences of ρ and κ are also important factors for an improvement in η

Impact Factors Analysis of the Hot Side Temperature of Thermoelectric Module

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xingyu; Tan, Gangfeng; Yang, Bo

2018-03-01

The thermoelectric generator (TEG) plays a crucial role in converting the waste energy of exhaust into electricity, which ensures energy saving and increased fuel utilization efficiency. In the urban driving cycle, frequent vehicle operation, like deceleration or acceleration, results in continuous variation of the exhaust temperature. In order to make the operating performance stable, and to weaken the adverse effects of the frequent variation of the exhaust temperature on the lifetime and work efficiency of the electronic components of TEG systems, the output voltage of the thermoelectric (TE) module should stay more stable. This article provides an improved method for the temperature stability of the TE material hot side based on sandwiching material. From the view of the TEG system's average output power and the hot side temperature stability of the TE material, the analyzing factors, including the fluctuation frequency of the exhaust temperature and the physical properties and thickness of the sandwiching material are evaluated, respectively, in the sine and new European driving cycle (NEDC) fluctuation condition of the exhaust temperature. The results show few effects of sandwiching material thickness with excellent thermal conductivity on the average output power. During the 150-170 s of the NEDC test condition, the minimum hot side temperatures with a BeO ceramic thickness of 2 mm and 6 mm are, respectively, 537.19 K and 685.70 K, which shows the obvious effect on the hot side temperature stability of the BeO ceramic thickness in the process of acceleration and deceleration of vehicle driving.

Thermoelectric properties of ternary phases of thallium-tin-tellurium system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dichi, E. [Equipe materiaux et sante, faculte de pharmacie, universite Paris XI, 5, rue J.B, EA 401, Clement 92296 Chatenay-Malabry (France)], E-mail: emma.dichi@cep.u-psud.fr; Sghaier, M. [Equipe materiaux et sante, faculte de pharmacie, universite Paris XI, 5, rue J.B, EA 401, Clement 92296 Chatenay-Malabry (France); Kra, G. [Laboratoire de chimie minerale, universite de Cocody, 22, BP 582, Abidjan 22, Cote d' Ivoire (France)

2008-06-30

In this paper, we present the measurements of conductivity and of thermoelectric power. Measurements were taken for the temperature range of 100-330 K for the three ternary phases of Tl-Sn-Te system. The potential of these compounds as thermoelectric materials was studied.

Thermoelectric Power Factor Limit of a 1D Nanowire

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, I.-Ju; Burke, Adam; Svilans, Artis; Linke, Heiner; Thelander, Claes

2018-04-01

In the past decade, there has been significant interest in the potentially advantageous thermoelectric properties of one-dimensional (1D) nanowires, but it has been challenging to find high thermoelectric power factors based on 1D effects in practice. Here we point out that there is an upper limit to the thermoelectric power factor of nonballistic 1D nanowires, as a consequence of the recently established quantum bound of thermoelectric power output. We experimentally test this limit in quasiballistic InAs nanowires by extracting the maximum power factor of the first 1D subband through I -V characterization, finding that the measured maximum power factors conform to the theoretical limit. The established limit allows the prediction of the achievable power factor of a specific nanowire material system with 1D electronic transport based on the nanowire dimension and mean free path. The power factor of state-of-the-art semiconductor nanowires with small cross section and high crystal quality can be expected to be highly competitive (on the order of mW /m K2 ) at low temperatures. However, they have no clear advantage over bulk materials at, or above, room temperature.

Thermoelectric potential in UO2 and (U,Pu)O2 and its influence on oxygen migration in presence of a temperature gradient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

D'Annucci, F.

1979-09-01

Measurement of the thermoelectric power have been carried out in sintered pellets of uranium-oxide and uranium-plutonium mixed oxides up to 1800 K. For the thermal treatment an inducting furnace is used. The temperatures and the thermoelectric potential are measured with two thermocouples wich are contained in two holes in the lower end of the pellet. During the experiments a temperature difference of 80 K is maintained between the two measuring points. The Seebeck coefficients are calculated from the EMF measurements as a function of temperature and of the O/M ratio. The results show that these oxides have the typical electric properties of a classic semiconductor. The conductivity is of p-type up to a defined temperature wich is a function of the stoichiometry. The Seebeck coefficients are characterized by a defined energy of activation wich is independent from the stochiometry in the regions of hypo- and hyperstochiometric oxides. The thermoelectric forces and the lattice forces drive ions along the temperature gradients. Both forces can be described by the heat of transport of oxygen ions wich contains a thermoelectric and a thermal part. The thermoelectric part of the heat of transport is calculated with the values of the Seebeck coefficients and the contribution to the total heat of transport is discussed. (orig.) [de

A High Temperature Experimental Characterization Procedure for Oxide-Based Thermoelectric Generator Modules under Transient Conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Man, Elena Anamaria; Schaltz, Erik; Rosendahl, Lasse

2015-01-01

Characterization methods for thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules play an important role in studying their behavior and in enhancing the performance and simulation of TEG systems also. The purpose of this study is to analyze the behavior in transient and steady-state of the temperature applied...

FP-LAPW calculations of the elastic, electronic and thermoelectric properties of the filled skutterudite CeRu4Sb12

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shankar, A.; Rai, D.P.; Chettri, Sandeep; Khenata, R.; Thapa, R.K.

2016-01-01

We have investigated the electronic structure, elastic and thermoelectric properties of the filled skutterudite CeRu 4 Sb 12 using the density functional theory (DFT). The full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method within a framework of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) approach is used to perform the calculations presented here. The electronic structure calculation suggests an indirect band gap semiconducting nature of the material with energy band gap of 0.08 eV. The analysis of the elastic constants at relaxed positions reveals the ductile nature of the sample material with covalent contribution in the inter-atomic bonding. The narrow band gap semiconducting nature with high value of Seebeck coefficient suggests the possibility of the thermoelectric application of the material. The analysis of the thermal transport properties confirms the result obtained from the energy band structure of the material with high thermopower and dimensionless figure of merit 0.19 at room temperature.

Conceptual design of a FGM thermoelectric energy conversion system for high temperature heat source. 1. Design of thermoelectric energy conversion unit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kambe, Mitsuru; Teraki, Junichi; Hirano, Toru.

1996-01-01

Thermoelectric (TE) power conversion system has been focused as a candidate of direct energy conversion systems for high temperature heat source to meet the various power requirements in next century. A concept of energy conversion unit by using TE cell elements combined with FGM compliant pads has been presented to achieve high thermal energy density as well as high energy conversion efficiency. An energy conversion unit consists of 8 couples of P-N cell elements sandwiched between two FGM compliant pads. Performance analysis revealed that the power generated by this unit was 11 watts which is nearly ten times as much as conventional unit of the same size. Energy conversion efficiency of 12% was expected based on the assumption of ZT = 1. All the member of compliant pads as well as TE cells could be bonded together to avoid thermal resistance. (author)

Proposal for a phase-coherent thermoelectric transistor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giazotto, F.; Robinson, J. W. A.; Moodera, J. S.; Bergeret, F. S.

2014-01-01

Identifying materials and devices which offer efficient thermoelectric effects at low temperature is a major obstacle for the development of thermal management strategies for low-temperature electronic systems. Superconductors cannot offer a solution since their near perfect electron-hole symmetry leads to a negligible thermoelectric response; however, here we demonstrate theoretically a superconducting thermoelectric transistor which offers unparalleled figures of merit of up to ∼45 and Seebeck coefficients as large as a few mV/K at sub-Kelvin temperatures. The device is also phase-tunable meaning its thermoelectric response for power generation can be precisely controlled with a small magnetic field. Our concept is based on a superconductor-normal metal-superconductor interferometer in which the normal metal weak-link is tunnel coupled to a ferromagnetic insulator and a Zeeman split superconductor. Upon application of an external magnetic flux, the interferometer enables phase-coherent manipulation of thermoelectric properties whilst offering efficiencies which approach the Carnot limit

Proposal for a phase-coherent thermoelectric transistor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giazotto, F., E-mail: giazotto@sns.it [NEST, Instituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, I-56127 Pisa (Italy); Robinson, J. W. A., E-mail: jjr33@cam.ac.uk [Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, 27 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0FS (United Kingdom); Moodera, J. S. [Department of Physics and Francis Bitter Magnet Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States); Bergeret, F. S., E-mail: sebastian-bergeret@ehu.es [Centro de Física de Materiales (CFM-MPC), Centro Mixto CSIC-UPV/EHU, Manuel de Lardizabal 4, E-20018 San Sebastián (Spain); Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Manuel de Lardizabal 5, E-20018 San Sebastián (Spain)

2014-08-11

Identifying materials and devices which offer efficient thermoelectric effects at low temperature is a major obstacle for the development of thermal management strategies for low-temperature electronic systems. Superconductors cannot offer a solution since their near perfect electron-hole symmetry leads to a negligible thermoelectric response; however, here we demonstrate theoretically a superconducting thermoelectric transistor which offers unparalleled figures of merit of up to ∼45 and Seebeck coefficients as large as a few mV/K at sub-Kelvin temperatures. The device is also phase-tunable meaning its thermoelectric response for power generation can be precisely controlled with a small magnetic field. Our concept is based on a superconductor-normal metal-superconductor interferometer in which the normal metal weak-link is tunnel coupled to a ferromagnetic insulator and a Zeeman split superconductor. Upon application of an external magnetic flux, the interferometer enables phase-coherent manipulation of thermoelectric properties whilst offering efficiencies which approach the Carnot limit.

Synthesis, Processing, and Thermoelectric Properties of Germanium-Antimony-Tellurium Based Compounds and Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Jared Brett

Society has become increasingly more aware of the negative impacts which nonrenewable energy sources have on the environment, and therefore the search for new and more efficient means of energy production has become an important research endeavor. Thermoelectric modules possess the unique ability to convert wasted heat into useful electrical energy via solid state processes, which could vastly improve the efficiency of a number of applications. The materials which accomplish this are typically comprised of semiconductors which exhibit high electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal resistivity. Together these properties give us a gauge for the overall efficiency of the thermal to electrical energy conversion. Phase change materials are a class of materials primarily used for optical data storage in CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs. Today's state of the art phase change materials are based on alloys of GeTe and Sb2Te3. These materials have also been found to exhibit high thermoelectric efficiencies. These high efficiencies stem from their complex crystal structure and degenerate semiconducting nature. The purpose of this work was to study and engineer the thermoelectric properties of various alloys and compounds which belong to this family of materials. Specifically studied were the compounds Ge4SbTe5 and Ge17Sb2Te20. In each case various synthesis and processing strategies were implemented to increase the thermoelectric performance and better understand the fundamental electrical and thermal properties. Finally various proposals for future work on these materials are presented, all of which are based on the findings described herein.

Synthesis of Non-uniformly Pr-doped SrTiO3 Ceramics and Their Thermoelectric Properties

KAUST Repository

Mehdizadeh Dehkordi, Arash; Bhattacharya, Sriparna; Darroudi, Taghi; Zeng, Xiaoyu; Alshareef, Husam N.; Tritt, Terry M.

2015-01-01

We demonstrate a novel synthesis strategy for the preparation of Pr-doped SrTiO3 ceramics via a combination of solid state reaction and spark plasma sintering techniques. Polycrystalline ceramics possessing a unique morphology can be achieved by optimizing the process parameters, particularly spark plasma sintering heating rate. The phase and morphology of the synthesized ceramics were investigated in detail using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microcopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy It was observed that the grains of these bulk Pr-doped SrTiO3 ceramics were enhanced with Pr-rich grain boundaries. Electronic and thermal transport properties were also investigated as a function of temperature and doping concentration Such a microstructure was found to give rise to improved thermoelectric properties. Specifically, it resulted in a significant improvement in carrier mobility and the thermoelectric power factor. Simultaneously, it also led to a marked reduction in the thermal conductivity. As a result, a significant improvement (> 30%) in the thermoelectric figure of merit was achieved for the whole temperature range over all previously reported maximum values for SrTiO3-based ceramics. This synthesis demonstrates the steps for the preparation of bulk polycrystalline ceramics of non-uniformly Pr-doped SrTiO3.

Synthesis of Non-uniformly Pr-doped SrTiO3 Ceramics and Their Thermoelectric Properties

KAUST Repository

Mehdizadeh Dehkordi, Arash

2015-08-15

We demonstrate a novel synthesis strategy for the preparation of Pr-doped SrTiO3 ceramics via a combination of solid state reaction and spark plasma sintering techniques. Polycrystalline ceramics possessing a unique morphology can be achieved by optimizing the process parameters, particularly spark plasma sintering heating rate. The phase and morphology of the synthesized ceramics were investigated in detail using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microcopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy It was observed that the grains of these bulk Pr-doped SrTiO3 ceramics were enhanced with Pr-rich grain boundaries. Electronic and thermal transport properties were also investigated as a function of temperature and doping concentration Such a microstructure was found to give rise to improved thermoelectric properties. Specifically, it resulted in a significant improvement in carrier mobility and the thermoelectric power factor. Simultaneously, it also led to a marked reduction in the thermal conductivity. As a result, a significant improvement (> 30%) in the thermoelectric figure of merit was achieved for the whole temperature range over all previously reported maximum values for SrTiO3-based ceramics. This synthesis demonstrates the steps for the preparation of bulk polycrystalline ceramics of non-uniformly Pr-doped SrTiO3.

GEO-TEP. Development of thermoelectric materials for geothermal energy conversion systems. Final report 2008

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bocher, L.; Weidenkaff, A.

2008-07-01

Geothermal heat can be directly converted into electricity by using thermoelectric converters. Thermoelectric conversion relies on intrinsic materials properties which have to be optimised. In this work novel environmentally friendly and stable oxide ceramics were developed to fulfil this task. Thus, manganate phases were studied regarding their potential thermoelectric properties for converting geothermal heat into electricity. Perovskite-type phases were synthesized by applying different methods: the ceramic route, and innovative synthesis routes such as the 'chimie douce' method by bulk thermal decomposition of the citrate precursor or using an USC process, and also the polyol-mediated synthesis route. The crystal structures of the manganate phases are evaluated by XRPD, NPD, and ED techniques while specific microstructures such as twinned domains are highlighted by HRTEM imaging. Besides, the thermal stability of the Mn-oxide phases in air atmosphere are controlled over a wide temperature range (T < 1300 K). The thermoelectric figure of merit ZT was enhanced from 0.021 to 0.3 in a broad temperature range for the studied phases which makes these phases the best perovskitic candidates as n-type polycrystalline thermoelectric materials operating in air at high temperatures. (author)

Perspective: Web-based machine learning models for real-time screening of thermoelectric materials properties

Science.gov (United States)

Gaultois, Michael W.; Oliynyk, Anton O.; Mar, Arthur; Sparks, Taylor D.; Mulholland, Gregory J.; Meredig, Bryce

2016-05-01

The experimental search for new thermoelectric materials remains largely confined to a limited set of successful chemical and structural families, such as chalcogenides, skutterudites, and Zintl phases. In principle, computational tools such as density functional theory (DFT) offer the possibility of rationally guiding experimental synthesis efforts toward very different chemistries. However, in practice, predicting thermoelectric properties from first principles remains a challenging endeavor [J. Carrete et al., Phys. Rev. X 4, 011019 (2014)], and experimental researchers generally do not directly use computation to drive their own synthesis efforts. To bridge this practical gap between experimental needs and computational tools, we report an open machine learning-based recommendation engine (http://thermoelectrics.citrination.com) for materials researchers that suggests promising new thermoelectric compositions based on pre-screening about 25 000 known materials and also evaluates the feasibility of user-designed compounds. We show this engine can identify interesting chemistries very different from known thermoelectrics. Specifically, we describe the experimental characterization of one example set of compounds derived from our engine, RE12Co5Bi (RE = Gd, Er), which exhibits surprising thermoelectric performance given its unprecedentedly high loading with metallic d and f block elements and warrants further investigation as a new thermoelectric material platform. We show that our engine predicts this family of materials to have low thermal and high electrical conductivities, but modest Seebeck coefficient, all of which are confirmed experimentally. We note that the engine also predicts materials that may simultaneously optimize all three properties entering into zT; we selected RE12Co5Bi for this study due to its interesting chemical composition and known facile synthesis.

Experimental Investigation of a Temperature-Controlled Car Seat Powered by an Exhaust Thermoelectric Generator

Science.gov (United States)

Du, H.; Wang, Y. P.; Yuan, X. H.; Deng, Y. D.; Su, C. Q.

2016-03-01

To improve the riding comfort and rational utilization of the electrical energy captured by an automotive thermoelectric generator (ATEG), a temperature-controlled car seat was constructed to adjust the temperature of the car seat surface. Powered by the ATEG and the battery, the seat-embedded air conditioner can improve the riding comfort using a thermoelectric device to adjust the surface temperature of the seat, with an air duct to regulate the cold side and hot side of the thermoelectric device. The performance of the thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and theoretical analysis on the optimum state of the TEC device are put forward. To verify the rationality of the air duct design and to ensure sufficient air supply, the velocity field of the air duct system was obtained by means of the finite element method. To validate the reliability of the numerical simulation, the air velocity around the thermoelectric device was measured by a wind speed transmitter. The performance of the temperature-controlled car seat has been validated and is in good agreement with bench tests and real vehicle tests.

Ab initio study of thermoelectric properties of doped SnO{sub 2} superlattices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borges, P.D., E-mail: pdborges@gmail.com [Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Tecnológicas, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 38810-000 Rio Paranaíba, MG (Brazil); Silva, D.E.S.; Castro, N.S.; Ferreira, C.R.; Pinto, F.G.; Tronto, J. [Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Tecnológicas, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 38810-000 Rio Paranaíba, MG (Brazil); Scolfaro, L. [Department of Physics, Texas State University, 78666 San Marcos, TX (United States)

2015-11-15

Transparent conductive oxides, such as tin dioxide (SnO{sub 2}), have recently shown to be promising materials for thermoelectric applications. In this work we studied the thermoelectric properties of Fe-, Sb- and Zn-uniformly doping and co-doping SnO{sub 2}, as well as of Sb and Zn planar (or delta)-doped layers in SnO{sub 2} forming oxide superlattices (SLs). Based on the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equations (BTE) in conjunction with ab initio electronic structure calculations, the Seebeck coefficient (S) and figure of merit (ZT) are obtained for these systems, and are compared with available experimental data. The delta doping approach introduces a remarkable modification in the electronic structure of tin dioxide, when compared with the uniform doping, and colossal values for ZT are predicted for the delta-doped oxide SLs. This result is a consequence of the two-dimensional electronic confinement and the strong anisotropy introduced by the doped planes. In comparison with the uniformly doped systems, our predictions reveal a promising use of delta-doped SnO{sub 2} SLs for enhanced S and ZT, which emerge as potential candidates for thermoelectric applications. - Graphical abstract: Band structure and Figure of merit for SnO2:Sb superlattice along Z direction, P. D. Borges, D. E. S. Silva, N. S. Castro, C. R. Ferreira, F. G. Pinto, J. Tronto and L. Scolfaro, Ab initio study of thermoelectric properties of doped SnO2 superlattices. - Highlights: • Thermoelectric properties of SnO{sub 2}-based alloys and superlattices. • High figure of merit is predicted for planar-doped SnO{sub 2} superlattices. • Nanotechnology has an important role for the development of thermoelectric devices.

Electronic structure and physical properties of Heusler compounds for thermoelectric and spintronic applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ouardi, Siham

2012-03-19

This thesis focuses on synthesis as well as investigations of the electronic structure and properties of Heusler compounds for spintronic and thermoelectric applications. The first part reports on the electronic and crystal structure as well as the mechanical, magnetic, and transport properties of the polycrystalline Heusler compound Co{sub 2}MnGe. The crystalline structure was examined in detail by extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and anomalous X-ray diffraction. The low-temperature magnetic moment agrees well with the Slater-Pauling rule and indicates a half-metallic ferromagnetic state of the compound, as is predicted by ab-initio calculations. Transport measurements and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) were performed to explain the electronic structure of the compound. A major part of the thesis deals with a systematical investigation of Heusler compounds for thermoelectric applications. This thesis focuses on the search for new p-type Heusler compounds with high thermoelectric efficiency. The substitutional series NiTi{sub 1-x}M{sub x}Sn (where M=Sc, V and 0properties. The results show the possibility to create n-type and p-type thermoelectrics within one Heusler compound. The pure compounds showed n-type behavior, while under Sc substitution the system switched to p-type behavior. A maximum Seebeck coefficient of +230 {mu}V/K (350 K) was obtained for NiTi{sub 0.26}Sc{sub 0.04}Zr{sub 0.35}Hf{sub 0.35}Sn. HAXPES valence band measurement show massive in gap states for the parent compounds NiTiSn, CoTiSb and NiTi{sub 0.3}Zr{sub 0.35}Hf{sub 0.35}Sn. This proves that the electronic states close to the Fermi energy play a key role for the behavior of the transport properties. Furthermore, the electronic structure of the gapless Heusler compounds PtYSb, PtLaBi and PtLuSb were investigated by bulk

Thermoelectric properties of Al doped Mg{sub 2}Si material

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaur, Kulwinder, E-mail: kulwindercmp@gmail.com; Kumar, Ranjan [Department of Physics, Center of Advanced Study in Physics, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160 014 (India); Rani, Anita [Department of Physics, Center of Advanced Study in Physics, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160 014 (India); Guru Nanak College for Girls, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab (India)

2015-08-28

In the present paper we have calculated thermoelectric properties of Al doped Mg{sub 2}Si material (Mg{sub 2−x}Al{sub x}Si, x=0.06) using Pseudo potential plane wave method based on DFT and Semi classical Boltzmann theory. The calculations showed n-type conduction, indicating that the electrical conduction are due to electron. The electrical conductivity increasing with increasing temperature and the negative value of Seebeck Coefficient also show that the conduction is due to electron. The thermal conductivity was increased slightly by Al doping with increasing temperature due to the much larger contribution of lattice thermal conductivity over electronic thermal conductivity.

Thermoelectrical-electrothermal feedback (te-et f) enhanced performance characteristics of a high temperature superconductor far-infrared bolometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaila, M.M.; Russell, G.J.

2000-01-01

Full text: It is more than a decade since the discovery of new a High Temperature Superconducting (HTSC) materials. Their adaptation to large scale applications e.g. high magnetic fields, friction-less motors, levitation trains etc., is still long way to go. Small scale applications e.g., far-infrared sensors, has certainly been established as a highly suitable area for immediate economically viable commercial exploitation. The semiconductor counterparts, NT(Neutron Transmutation doped)Ge, CD(Compensation Doped)Si sensors are not only expensive and difficult to manufacture but also require liquid helium refrigeration at mK temperatures to operate. Although the work around the world has centered on photo-electrical bolometers, in our approach we have adopted a much simpler, temperature stable and a better performing photo-thermoelectrical mode of operation. It is well known that the semi-metal BiSb has the highest electronic thermoelectric figure of merit at liquid nitrogen temperatures. One can obtain a value around 1x10 -2 / K by application of a magnetic field to the BiSb leg of a composite. BiSb-HTSC bolometer. We can use this high figure of merit to our advantage in two different modes of operation of the detector. One is the static mode where the thermoelectric power generated across the semi-metal leg (connected in parallel with the HTSC leg) of the bolometer drives the external electronic circuitry. This circuitry can be remotely (no direct electrical contact) coupled to the bolometer e.g. through the primary coil of a SQUID current amplifier, which can be connected in series with the bolometer inside the cryostat, for better noise performance, or outside, for convenience. Second is the heterodyne operation. The external bias is applied in a constant voltage bias mode. The direction of the bias is so chosen that the transient Peltier power generated, from the incident radiation, in the circuit extracts additional heat at the sensitive area of the bolometer

Enhanced thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline Bi2Te3 core fibers with preferentially oriented nanosheets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min Sun

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Bi2Te3-based materials have been reported to be one of the best room-temperature thermoelectric materials, and it is a challenge to substantially improve their thermoelectric properties. Here novel Bi2Te3 core fibers with borosilicate glass cladding were fabricated utilizing a modified molten core drawing method. The Bi2Te3 core of the fiber was found to consist of hexagonal polycrystalline nanosheets, and polycrystalline nanosheets had a preferential orientation; in other words, the hexagonal Bi2Te3 lamellar cleavage more tended to be parallel to the symmetry axis of the fibers. Compared with a homemade 3-mm-diameter Bi2Te3 rod, the polycrystalline nanosheets’ preferential orientation in the 89-μm-diameter Bi2Te3 core increased its electrical conductivity, but deduced its Seebeck coefficient. The Bi2Te3 core exhibits an ultrahigh ZT of 0.73 at 300 K, which is 232% higher than that of the Bi2Te3 rod. The demonstration of fibers with oriented nano-polycrystalline core and the integration with an efficient fabrication technique will pave the way for the fabrication of high-performance thermoelectric fibers.

Thermoelectric properties of ZnSb films grown by MOCVD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Venkatasubramanian, R.; Watko, E.; Colpitts, T.

1997-04-01

The thermoelectric properties of metallorganic chemical vapor deposited (MOCVD) ZnSb films are reported. The growth conditions necessary to obtain stoichiometric ZnSb films and the effects of various growth parameters on the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficients of the films are described. The as-grown ZnSb films are p-type. It was observed that the growth of thicker ZnSb films lead to improved carrier mobilities and lower free-carrier concentrations. The Seebeck coefficient of ZnSb films was found to rise rapidly at approximately 160 to 170 C, with peak Seebeck coefficients as high as 470 microV/K at 220 C. The various growth conditions, including the use of intentional dopants, to improve the Seebeck coefficients at room temperature and above, are discussed. A short annealing of the ZnSb films at temperatures of ∼ 200 C resulted in reduced free-carrier levels and higher Seebeck coefficients at 300 K. Finally, ZT values based on preliminary thermal conductivity measurements using the 3-ω method are reported

Thermoelectric and mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered Cu3SbSe3 and Cu3SbSe4: Promising thermoelectric materials

Science.gov (United States)

Tyagi, Kriti; Gahtori, Bhasker; Bathula, Sivaiah; Toutam, Vijaykumar; Sharma, Sakshi; Singh, Niraj Kumar; Dhar, Ajay

2014-12-01

We report the synthesis of thermoelectric compounds, Cu3SbSe3 and Cu3SbSe4, employing the conventional fusion method followed by spark plasma sintering. Their thermoelectric properties indicated that despite its higher thermal conductivity, Cu3SbSe4 exhibited a much larger value of thermoelectric figure-of-merit as compared to Cu3SbSe3, which is primarily due to its higher electrical conductivity. The thermoelectric compatibility factor of Cu3SbSe4 was found to be ˜1.2 as compared to 0.2 V-1 for Cu3SbSe3 at 550 K. The results of the mechanical properties of these two compounds indicated that their microhardness and fracture toughness values were far superior to the other competing state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials.

High-throughput exploration of thermoelectric and mechanical properties of amorphous NbO_2 with transition metal additions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Music, Denis; Geyer, Richard W.; Hans, Marcus

2016-01-01

To increase the thermoelectric efficiency and reduce the thermal fatigue upon cyclic heat loading, alloying of amorphous NbO_2 with all 3d and 5d transition metals has systematically been investigated using density functional theory. It was found that Ta fulfills the key design criteria, namely, enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient and positive Cauchy pressure (ductility gauge). These quantum mechanical predictions were validated by assessing the thermoelectric and elastic properties on combinatorial thin films, which is a high-throughput approach. The maximum power factor is 2813 μW m"−"1 K"−"2 for the Ta/Nb ratio of 0.25, which is a hundredfold increment compared to pure NbO_2 and exceeds many oxide thermoelectrics. Based on the elasticity measurements, the consistency between theory and experiment for the Cauchy pressure was attained within 2%. On the basis of the electronic structure analysis, these configurations can be perceived as metallic, which is consistent with low electrical resistivity and ductile behavior. Furthermore, a pronounced quantum confinement effect occurs, which is identified as the physical origin for the Seebeck coefficient enhancement.

Nanoscale thermoelectric materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Failamani, F.

2015-01-01

Thermoelectric (TE) materials directly convert thermal energy to electrical energy when subjected to a temperature gradient, whereas if electricity is applied to thermoelectric materials, a temperature gradient is formed. The performance of thermoelectric materials is characterized by a dimensionless figure of merit (ZT = S2T/ρλ), which consists of three parameters, Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical resistivity (ρ) and thermal conductivity (λ). To achieve good performance of thermoelectric power generation and cooling, ZT's of thermoelectric materials must be as high as possible, preferably above unity. This thesis comprises three main parts, which are distributed into six chapters: (i) nanostructuring to improve TE performance of trivalent rare earth-filled skutterudites (chapter 1 and 2), (ii) interactions of skutterudite thermolectrics with group V metals as potential electrode or diffusion barrier for TE devices (chapter 3 and 4), and (iii) search for new materials for TE application (chapter 5 and 6). Addition of secondary phases, especially nano sized phases can cause additional reduction of the thermal conductivity of a filled skutterudite which improves the figure of merit (ZT) of thermoelectric materials. In chapter 1 we investigated the effect of various types of secondary phases (silicides, borides, etc.) on the TE properties of trivalent rare earth filled Sb-based skutterudites as commercially potential TE materials. In this context the possibilty to introduce borides as nano-particles (via ball-milling in terms of a skutterudite/boride composite) is also elucidated in chapter 2. As a preliminary study, crystal structure of novel high temperature FeB-type phases found in the ternary Ta-{Ti,Zr,Hf,}-B systems were investigated. In case of Ti and Hf this phase is the high temperature stabilization of binary group IV metal monoborides, whereas single crystal study of (Ta,Zr)B proves that it is a true ternary phase as no stable monoboride exist in the

High-Performance Silicon-Germanium-Based Thermoelectric Modules for Gas Exhaust Energy Scavenging

Science.gov (United States)

Romanjek, K.; Vesin, S.; Aixala, L.; Baffie, T.; Bernard-Granger, G.; Dufourcq, J.

2015-06-01

Some of the energy used in transportation and industry is lost as heat, often at high-temperatures, during conversion processes. Thermoelectricity enables direct conversion of heat into electricity, and is an alternative to the waste-heat-recovery technology currently used, for example turbines and other types of thermodynamic cycling. The performance of thermoelectric (TE) materials and modules has improved continuously in recent decades. In the high-temperature range ( T hot side > 500°C), silicon-germanium (SiGe) alloys are among the best TE materials reported in the literature. These materials are based on non-toxic elements. The Thermoelectrics Laboratory at CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives) has synthesized n and p-type SiGe pellets, manufactured TE modules, and integrated these into thermoelectric generators (TEG) which were tested on a dedicated bench with hot air as the source of heat. SiGe TE samples of diameter 60 mm were created by spark-plasma sintering. For n-type SiGe doped with phosphorus the peak thermoelectric figure of merit reached ZT = 1.0 at 700°C whereas for p-type SiGe doped with boron the peak was ZT = 0.75 at 700°C. Thus, state-of-the-art conversion efficiency was obtained while also achieving higher production throughput capacity than for competing processes. A standard deviation high reproducibility. A silver-paste-based brazing technique was used to assemble the TE elements into modules. This assembly technique afforded low and repeatable electrical contact resistance (high temperatures (up to 600°C), and thirty 20 mm × 20 mm TE modules were produced and tested. The results revealed the performance was reproducible, with power output reaching 1.9 ± 0.2 W for a 370 degree temperature difference. When the temperature difference was increased to 500°C, electrical power output increased to >3.6 W. An air-water heat exchanger was developed and 30 TE modules were clamped and connected electrically

Defining the Thermal Stability of Ba8Ga16Ge30 and its Future in Thermoelectrics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reardon, Hazel; Iversen, Bo Brummerstedt; Blichfeld, Anders Bank

The majority of research on the auspicious n/p-Ba8Ga16-xGe30+x (BGG) Type-I thermoelectric clathrates has been focused on property measurements at low temperature. High temperature property measurements have also been reported for BGG, although they have not yet been fully explained. Therefore...... to evaluate the underlying chemistry of the anomalies seen in thermoelectric property measurements. Using X-ray diffraction and DTA-TG, we have discovered that BGG is not chemically stable at high temperatures over a range of thermal treatment periods. Our variable temperature synchrotron XRD measurements...... and longer term annealing experiments reveal that Ge evolution is the first indicator of BGG decomposition. This presentation summarizes the results from these research activities and highlight that the slow decomposition kinetics of BGG have been overlooked on the timescales typically used...

Thermoelectric properties, crystal and electronic structure of semiconducting RECuSe2 (RE = Pr, Sm, Gd, Dy and Er)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esmaeili, Mehdi; Tseng, Yu-Chih; Mozharivskyj, Yurij

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Crystal and electronic structure of monoclinic and trigonal RECuSe 2 phases. • Thermoelectric properties of the RECuSe 2 phases. • Temperature stability of the RECuSe 2 phases. - Abstract: The ternary RECuSe 2 phases have been prepared and structurally characterized. They adopt either a monoclinic structure (P2 1 /c, z = 4) for lighter rare earths (RE = Pr, Sm and Gd) or Cu-disordered trigonal structure for heavier rare-earths (P3 ¯ m1, z = 1, RE = Dy and Er). The resistivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements on GdCuSe 2 , DyCuSe 2 and ErCuSe 2 indicate that the studied phases are p-type semiconductors with relatively small activation energies (0.045–0.11 eV). However, their electrical resistivities are too high (0.45–220 Ω cm at room temperature) to make them competitive thermoelectric materials. Electronic structure calculations indicate presence of a band gap in the RECuSe 2 phases

Preparation of 2D MoSe2/PEDOT:PSS composite and its thermoelectric properties

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xia; Liu, Congcong; Wang, Tongzhou; Wang, Wenfang; Wang, Xiaodong; Jiang, Qinglin; Jiang, Fengxing; Xu, Jingkun

2017-11-01

Nowadays, inorganic/polymer composites have attracted significant interest in thermoelectric field, since the composite materials usually achieve their respective advantages complementary to each other. In this work, molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. Solution processible two-dimensional (2D) MoSe2 nanosheets (NSs) were successfully obtained using dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) solvent or lithium intercalation procedure. Combined with Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), MoSe2/PEDOT:PSS composite thin films were fabricated by direct vacuum-filtration method. Thermoelectric properties of composite thin films were investigated systematically and found that 2D MoSe2 NSs and PEDOT:PSS have the synergistic effect on improving thermoelectric properties. The maximum power factor was calculated to be 48.6 µW m-1 K-2 with 5 wt% 2D MoSe2 NSs embedding into PEDOT:PSS matrix, which is almost 69% higher than that of pure PEDOT:PSS. These results demonstrate that 2D inorganic/polymer composite method is one of promising strategies to get high-performance polymer-based thermoelectric composites.

Nanostructured Thermoelectric Oxides for Energy Harvesting Applications

KAUST Repository

Abutaha, Anas I.

2015-01-01

of thermoelectrics are still limited to one materials system, namely SiGe, since the traditional thermoelectric materials degrade and oxidize at high temperature. Therefore, oxide thermoelectrics emerge as a promising class of materials since they can operate

Correlating thermoelectric properties with microstructure in Bi0.8Sb0.2 thin films

Science.gov (United States)

Siegal, M. P.; Lima-Sharma, A. L.; Sharma, P. A.; Rochford, C.

2017-04-01

The room temperature electronic transport properties of 100 nm-thick thermoelectric Bi0.8Sb0.2 films, sputter-deposited onto quartz substrates and post-annealed in an ex-situ furnace, systematically correlate with the overall microstructural quality, improving with increasing annealing temperature until close to the melting point for the alloy composition. The optimized films have high crystalline quality with ˜99% of the grains oriented with the trigonal axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. Film resistivities and Seebeck coefficients are accurately measured by preventing deleterious surface oxide formation via a SiN capping layer and using Nd-doped Al for contacts. The resulting values are similar to single crystals and significantly better than previous reports from films and polycrystalline bulk alloys.

Thermoelectric properties of epitaxial ScN films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering onto MgO(001) substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Burmistrova, Polina V.; Maassen, Jesse; Favaloro, Tela; Saha, Bivas; Salamat, Shuaib; Rui Koh, Yee; Lundstrom, Mark S.; Shakouri, Ali; Sands, Timothy D.

2013-04-01

Epitaxial ScN(001) thin films were grown on MgO(001) substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The deposition was performed in an Ar/N2 atmosphere at 2 × 10-3 Torr at a substrate temperature of 850 °C in a high vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 10-8 Torr. In spite of oxygen contamination of 1.6 ± 1 at. %, the electrical resistivity, electron mobility, and carrier concentration obtained from a typical film grown under these conditions by room temperature Hall measurements are 0.22 mΩ cm, 106 cm2 V-1 s-1, and 2.5 × 1020 cm-3, respectively. These films exhibit remarkable thermoelectric power factors of 3.3-3.5 × 10-3 W/mK2 in the temperature range of 600 K to 840 K. The cross-plane thermal conductivity is 8.3 W/mK at 800 K yielding an estimated ZT of 0.3. Theoretical modeling of the thermoelectric properties of ScN calculated using a mean-free-path of 23 nm at 300 K is in very good agreement with the experiment. These results also demonstrate that further optimization of the power factor of ScN is possible. First-principles density functional theory combined with the site occupancy disorder technique was used to investigate the effect of oxygen contamination on the electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of ScN. The computational results suggest that oxygen atoms in ScN mix uniformly on the N site forming a homogeneous solid solution alloy. Behaving as an n-type donor, oxygen causes a shift of the Fermi level in ScN into the conduction band without altering the band structure and the density of states.

Thermoelectric energy harvesting from small ambient temperature transients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moser, Andre

2012-07-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) represent a key technology, used, for instance, in structural health monitoring, building automation systems, or traffic surveillance. Supplying power to a network of spatially distributed sensor nodes, especially at remote locations, is a large challenge: power grids are reliable but costly to install, whereas batteries provide a high flexibility in the installation but have a limited lifetime. This dilemma can be overcome by micro energy harvesting which offers both: reliability and flexibility. Micro energy harvesters are able to convert low grade ambient energy into useful electrical energy and thus provide power for wireless sensor networks or other electronic devices - in-situ, off-grid, and with an almost unlimited lifetime. Thermal energy is an omnipresent source of ambient energy: The day-night-cycle of the sun causes a temperature variation in the ambient air as well as arbitrary solids (soil, building walls, etc.). Unlike the air, solids have a large thermal inertia which dampens the temperature variation. This physical process leads to a temperature difference {Delta}T = T{sub air} - T{sub solid} between air and solid that can be converted directly into electrical energy by a thermoelectric generator (TEG). Thermal and electrical interfaces are necessary to connect the TEG to the thermal energy source (T{sub air}, T{sub solid}) and the electrical load (WSN). Reliable operation of the WSN may only be ensured if the harvester provides sufficient electrical energy, i.e. operates at its maximum power point. The goal of this thesis is to study, design, and test thermoelectric harvesters generating electrical energy from small ambient temperature transients in order to self-sufficiently power a WSN. Current research into thermoelectric energy harvesting, especially analytical modeling and application in the field are treated insufficiently. Therefore, a time-dependent analytical model of the harvester's output power is set

Effects of Synthesis and Processing on the Thermoelectric Properties of Ca3Co4O9+δ

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, NingYu; Holgate, Tim; Van Nong, Ngo

In the present study, Ca3Co4O9+δ was synthesized by solid-state and sol-gel reactions followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) under different conditions such as sintering temperatures, applied pressures and ramping rates. The materials were then characterized with respect to their microstructure......, phase purity and thermoelectric properties. With the identical optimal SPS process, the power factor of about 400 µW/m•K2 and 465 µW/m•K2 (at 800 °C) is measured from samples produced by solid-state and sol-gel reactions respectively, both of these values are higher than the value reported so far....... The thermoelectric performance improvement observed for the solid-state and sol-gel reactions suggests that the particle sizes may be a predominant key parameter of the Ca3Co4O9+δ thermoelectric properties. Smaller particle size (500 nm) as produced in this study by sol-gel synthesis method with optimal SPS process...

Analysis of a Temperature-Controlled Exhaust Thermoelectric Generator During a Driving Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Brito, F. P.; Alves, A.; Pires, J. M.; Martins, L. B.; Martins, J.; Oliveira, J.; Teixeira, J.; Goncalves, L. M.; Hall, M. J.

2016-03-01

Thermoelectric generators can be used in automotive exhaust energy recovery. As car engines operate under wide variable loads, it is a challenge to design a system for operating efficiently under these variable conditions. This means being able to avoid excessive thermal dilution under low engine loads and being able to operate under high load, high temperature events without the need to deflect the exhaust gases with bypass systems. The authors have previously proposed a thermoelectric generator (TEG) concept with temperature control based on the operating principle of the variable conductance heat pipe/thermosiphon. This strategy allows the TEG modules’ hot face to work under constant, optimized temperature. The variable engine load will only affect the number of modules exposed to the heat source, not the heat transfer temperature. This prevents module overheating under high engine loads and avoids thermal dilution under low engine loads. The present work assesses the merit of the aforementioned approach by analysing the generator output during driving cycles simulated with an energy model of a light vehicle. For the baseline evaporator and condenser configuration, the driving cycle averaged electrical power outputs were approximately 320 W and 550 W for the type-approval Worldwide harmonized light vehicles test procedure Class 3 driving cycle and for a real-world highway driving cycle, respectively.

Thermoelectric Properties of the Chemically Doped Ca3Co4O9 System: A Structural Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Tao; Tyson, Trevor; Wang, Hsin; Li, Qiang

2010-03-01

Cu doped and Y doped [Ca2CoO3][CoO2]1.61 (referred to as Ca3Co4O9) were prepared by solid state reaction. Temperature dependent thermoelectric properties, resistivity (ρ), Seeback coefficient (S) and thermal conductivity (κ), were measured. As seen before, it is found that doping by Cu and Y significantly enhances the thermoelectric properties. In order to understand the origin of these changes in properties in terms of the atomic structure, synchrotron x-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption spectroscopy were applied to probe the change in the average structure and the location of the dopants. The details of the location and coordination of Co and Y in the host lattice and the effect on the figure of merit are discussed. This work is supported by DOE Grant DE-FG02-07ER46402.

FP-LAPW calculations of the elastic, electronic and thermoelectric properties of the filled skutterudite CeRu{sub 4}Sb{sub 12}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shankar, A., E-mail: amitshan2009@gmail.com [Condensed Matter Theory Group, Department of Physics, Mizoram University, 796004 (India); Rai, D.P. [Department of Physics, Pachhunga University College, Aizawl 796001 (India); Chettri, Sandeep [Condensed Matter Theory Group, Department of Physics, Mizoram University, 796004 (India); Khenata, R. [Laboratoire de Physique Quantique et de Modélisation Mathématique (LPQ3M), Département de Technologie, Université de Mascara, 29000 (Algeria); Thapa, R.K. [Condensed Matter Theory Group, Department of Physics, Mizoram University, 796004 (India)

2016-08-15

We have investigated the electronic structure, elastic and thermoelectric properties of the filled skutterudite CeRu{sub 4}Sb{sub 12} using the density functional theory (DFT). The full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method within a framework of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) approach is used to perform the calculations presented here. The electronic structure calculation suggests an indirect band gap semiconducting nature of the material with energy band gap of 0.08 eV. The analysis of the elastic constants at relaxed positions reveals the ductile nature of the sample material with covalent contribution in the inter-atomic bonding. The narrow band gap semiconducting nature with high value of Seebeck coefficient suggests the possibility of the thermoelectric application of the material. The analysis of the thermal transport properties confirms the result obtained from the energy band structure of the material with high thermopower and dimensionless figure of merit 0.19 at room temperature.

Bio-heat transfer model of electroconvulsive therapy: Effect of biological properties on induced temperature variation.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira, Marilia M; Wen, Paul; Ahfock, Tony

2016-08-01

A realistic human head model consisting of six tissue layers was modelled to investigate the behavior of temperature profile and magnitude when applying electroconvulsive therapy stimulation and different biological properties. The thermo-electrical model was constructed with the use of bio-heat transfer equation and Laplace equation. Three different electrode montages were analyzed as well as the influence of blood perfusion, metabolic heat and electric and thermal conductivity in the scalp. Also, the effect of including the fat layer was investigated. The results showed that temperature increase is inversely proportional to electrical and thermal conductivity increase. Furthermore, the inclusion of blood perfusion slightly drops the peak temperature. Finally, the inclusion of fat is highly recommended in order to acquire more realistic results from the thermo-electrical models.

High-throughput exploration of thermoelectric and mechanical properties of amorphous NbO{sub 2} with transition metal additions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Music, Denis, E-mail: music@mch.rwth-aachen.de; Geyer, Richard W.; Hans, Marcus [Materials Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Kopernikusstr. 10, 52074 Aachen (Germany)

2016-07-28

To increase the thermoelectric efficiency and reduce the thermal fatigue upon cyclic heat loading, alloying of amorphous NbO{sub 2} with all 3d and 5d transition metals has systematically been investigated using density functional theory. It was found that Ta fulfills the key design criteria, namely, enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient and positive Cauchy pressure (ductility gauge). These quantum mechanical predictions were validated by assessing the thermoelectric and elastic properties on combinatorial thin films, which is a high-throughput approach. The maximum power factor is 2813 μW m{sup −1} K{sup −2} for the Ta/Nb ratio of 0.25, which is a hundredfold increment compared to pure NbO{sub 2} and exceeds many oxide thermoelectrics. Based on the elasticity measurements, the consistency between theory and experiment for the Cauchy pressure was attained within 2%. On the basis of the electronic structure analysis, these configurations can be perceived as metallic, which is consistent with low electrical resistivity and ductile behavior. Furthermore, a pronounced quantum confinement effect occurs, which is identified as the physical origin for the Seebeck coefficient enhancement.

A design approach for integrating thermoelectric devices using topology optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soprani, S.; Haertel, J.H.K.; Lazarov, B.S.; Sigmund, O.; Engelbrecht, K.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • The integration of a thermoelectric (TE) cooler into a robotic tool is optimized. • Topology optimization is suggested as design tool for TE integrated systems. • A 3D optimization technique using temperature dependent TE properties is presented. • The sensitivity of the optimization process to the boundary conditions is studied. • A working prototype is constructed and compared to the model results. - Abstract: Efficient operation of thermoelectric devices strongly relies on the thermal integration into the energy conversion system in which they operate. Effective thermal integration reduces the temperature differences between the thermoelectric module and its thermal reservoirs, allowing the system to operate more efficiently. This work proposes and experimentally demonstrates a topology optimization approach as a design tool for efficient integration of thermoelectric modules into systems with specific design constraints. The approach allows thermal layout optimization of thermoelectric systems for different operating conditions and objective functions, such as temperature span, efficiency, and power recovery rate. As a specific application, the integration of a thermoelectric cooler into the electronics section of a downhole oil well intervention tool is investigated, with the objective of minimizing the temperature of the cooled electronics. Several challenges are addressed: ensuring effective heat transfer from the load, minimizing the thermal resistances within the integrated system, maximizing the thermal protection of the cooled zone, and enhancing the conduction of the rejected heat to the oil well. The design method incorporates temperature dependent properties of the thermoelectric device and other materials. The 3D topology optimization model developed in this work was used to design a thermoelectric system, complete with insulation and heat sink, that was produced and tested. Good agreement between experimental results and

Synthesis, characterization and investigation of thermoelectric properties of selected metal borides; Synthese, Charakterisierung und Untersuchung thermoelektrischer Eigenschaften ausgewaehlter Metallboride

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stober, Frederick

2012-06-04

The present work deals with the high-temperature thermoelectric properties of transition metal [eg V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu] and lanthanide [e.g. Sc, Y, Gd, Er, Dy]-borides. In particular, intercalation compounds of beta-rhombohedral boron, compounds of the type MB{sub 66}, dodecaborides and hexaborides were examined. In the case of intercalation compounds of beta-rhombohedral boron it was found that the incorporation of metals such as Sc, Mn or Cu result in favorable thermoelectric properties. The reason is most likely the preferred occupation of the metal position M2 instead of M4. Composites, for example, DyB{sub 66}-DyB{sub 12} show high electrical conductivities, high Seebeck effects at high temperatures due to the presence of DyB{sub 12} and low thermal conductivities as a result of the DyB{sub 66} matrix. At 1100K the composite DyB{sub 66}-DyB{sub 12} shows a ZT value of 0.55, thus exceeding the ZT of boron carbide (B{sub 13}C{sub 2}) at this temperature which is considered the best p-type boride material. A composite of ErB{sub 12}-ErB{sub 4}-ErB{sub 2} has negative Seebeck coefficients and shows a ZT value of 0.5 at 840K. Furthermore, the structure of tetragonal Scandiumdodecaboride ScB{sub 12} was solved on the basis of synchrotron data from a crystalline powder, after it has been debated for decades but never fully resolved.

Two-Dimensional Tellurene as Excellent Thermoelectric Material

KAUST Repository

Sharma, Sitansh

2018-04-20

We study the thermoelectric properties of two-dimensional tellurene by first-principles calculations and semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. The HSE06 hybrid functional results in a moderate direct band gap of 1.48 eV at the Γ point. A high room temperature Seebeck coefficient (Sxx = 0.38 mV/K, Syy = 0.36 mV/K) is combined with anisotropic lattice thermal conductivity (κxxl = 0.43 W/m K, κyyl = 1.29 W/m K). Phonon band structures demonstrate a key role of optical phonons in the record low thermal conductivity that leads to excellent thermoelectric performance of tellurene. At room temperature and moderate hole doping of 1.2 × 10–11 cm–2, for example, a figure of merit of ZTxx = 0.8 is achieved.

Structure and thermoelectric property of Te doped paracostibite CoSb1-xTexS compounds

Science.gov (United States)

You, Yonghui; Su, Xianli; Liu, Wei; Yan, Yonggao; Fu, Jiefei; Cheng, Xin; Zhang, Cheng; Tang, Xinfeng

2018-06-01

Paracostibite (CoSbS), a newly developed thermoelectric material, has aroused lots of interest due to its highly earth abundant and inexpensive constituent elements and potential application for thermoelectric power generation in the intermediate temperature range. Herein, a series of CoSb1-xTexS (x = 0-0.09) compounds were prepared by vacuum melting and annealing followed by SPS processing, and the effects of Te doping on the structure and thermoelectric properties were systematically investigated. Doping Te on the Sb site increases the carrier concentration up to 7.24 × 1020 cm-3 for CoSb0.93Te0.07S compound which is several orders of magnitude higher than that of un-doped CoSbS, and enhances the power factor. The maximum power factor of 14.07 μW cm-1 K-2 is attained at 900 K. Concomitantly, doping with Te on the Sb site leads to effective scattering of heat carrying phonon, accompanying with a strong suppression of the thermal conductivity with the increase of Te content, resulting in an increase of the ZT. A maximum ZT of 0.43 at 900 K is attained for CoSb0.93Te0.07S compound, which is 139% higher than that of un-doped CoSbS compound.

Thermoelectric properties of doped BaHfO_3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dixit, Chandra Kr.; Bhamu, K. C.; Sharma, Ramesh

2016-01-01

We have studied the structural stability, electronic structure, optical properties and thermoelectric properties of doped BaHfO_3 by full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. The electronic structure of BaHfO_3 doped with Sr shows enhances the indirect band gaps of 3.53 eV, 3.58 eV. The charge density plots show strong ionic bonding in Ba-Hf, and ionic and covalent bonding between Hf and O. Calculations of the optical spectra, viz., the dielectric function, refractive index and extinction coefficient are performed for the energy range are calculated and analyzed. Thermoelectric properties of semi conducting are also reported first time. The doped BaHfO_3 is approximately wide band gap semiconductor with the large p-type Seebeck coefficient. The power factor of BaHfO_3 is increased with Sr doping, decreases because of low electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity.

Efficient p-n junction-based thermoelectric generator that can operate at extreme temperature conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chavez, Ruben; Angst, Sebastian; Hall, Joseph

2017-01-01

In many industrial processes a large proportion of energy is lost in the form of heat. Thermoelectric generators can convert this waste heat into electricity by means of the Seebeck effect. However, the use of thermoelectric generators in practical applications on an industrial scale is limited...... in part because electrical, thermal, and mechanical bonding contacts between the semiconductor materials and the metal electrodes in current designs are not capable of withstanding thermal-mechanical stress and alloying of the metal-semiconductor interface when exposed to the high temperatures occurring...... in many real-world applications. Here we demonstrate a concept for thermoelectric generators that can address this issue by replacing the metallization and electrode bonding on the hot side of the device by a p-n junction between the two semiconductor materials, making the device robust against...

Preparation of InSe Thin Films by Thermal Evaporation Method and Their Characterization: Structural, Optical, and Thermoelectrical Properties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarita Boolchandani

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The indium selenium (InSe bilayer thin films of various thickness ratios, InxSe(1-x (x = 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, were deposited on a glass substrate keeping overall the same thickness of 2500 Ǻ using thermal evaporation method under high vacuum atmosphere. Electrical, optical, and structural properties of these bilayer thin films have been compared before and after thermal annealing at different temperatures. The structural and morphological characterization was done using XRD and SEM, respectively. The optical bandgap of these thin films has been calculated by Tauc’s relation that varies within the range of 1.99 to 2.05 eV. A simple low-cost thermoelectrical power measurement setup is designed which can measure the Seebeck coefficient “S” in the vacuum with temperature variation. The setup temperature variation is up to 70°C. This setup contains a Peltier device TEC1-12715 which is kept between two copper plates that act as a reference metal. Also, in the present work, the thermoelectric power of indium selenide (InSe and aluminum selenide (AlSe bilayer thin films prepared and annealed in the same way is calculated. The thermoelectric power has been measured by estimating the Seebeck coefficient for InSe and AlSe bilayer thin films. It was observed that the Seebeck coefficient is negative for InSe and AlSe thin films.

The thermoelectric figure of merit of poor thermal conductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dixon, A.J.

1977-01-01

Calculations are given to show that for low thermal conductivity materials the radiation losses at even moderate temperatures preclude the use of the Harman technique for measuring the thermoelectric figure of merit. Measurements on liquid Tl 66 Se 34 , which has suitable thermoelectric properties, confirm this. (author)

Numerical model of a thermoelectric generator with compact plate-fin heat exchanger for high temperature PEM fuel cell exhaust heat recovery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xin, Gao; Andreasen, Søren Juhl; Chen, Min

2012-01-01

on a finite-element approach. On each discretized segment, fluid properties, heat transfer process and TEG performance are locally calculated for higher model precision. To benefit both the system design and fabrication, the way to model TEG modules is herein reconsidered; a database of commercialized compact......This paper presents a numerical model of an exhaust heat recovery system for a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HTPEMFC) stack. The system is designed as thermoelectric generators (TEGs) sandwiched in the walls of a compact plate-fin heat exchanger. Its model is based...... plate-fin heat exchangers is adopted. Then the model is validated against experimental data and the main variables are identified by means of a sensitivity analysis. Finally, the system configuration is optimized for recovering heat from the exhaust gas. The results exhibit the crucial importance...

Thermoelectric cross-plane properties on p- and n-Ge/Si{sub x}Ge{sub 1-x} superlattices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferre Llin, L.; Samarelli, A. [University of Glasgow, School of Engineering, Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow G12 8LT (United Kingdom); Cecchi, S.; Chrastina, D.; Isella, G. [L-NESS, Politecnico di Milano, Via Anzani 42, 22100 Como (Italy); Müller Gubler, E. [ETH, Electron Microscopy ETH Zurich, Wolgang-Pauli-Str. Ch-8093 Zurich (Switzerland); Etzelstorfer, T.; Stangl, J. [Johannes Kepler Universität, Institute of Semiconductor and Solid State Physics, A-4040 Linz (Austria); Paul, D.J., E-mail: Douglas.Paul@glasgow.ac.uk [University of Glasgow, School of Engineering, Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow G12 8LT (United Kingdom)

2016-03-01

Silicon and germanium materials have demonstrated an increasing attraction for energy harvesting, due to their sustainability and integrability with complementary metal oxide semiconductor and micro-electro-mechanical-system technology. The thermoelectric efficiencies for these materials, however, are very poor at room temperature and so it is necessary to engineer them in order to compete with telluride based materials, which have demonstrated at room temperature the highest performances in literature [1]. Micro-fabricated devices consisting of mesa structures with integrated heaters, thermometers and Ohmic contacts were used to extract the cross-plane values of the Seebeck coefficient and the thermal conductivity from p- and n-Ge/Si{sub x}Ge{sub 1-x} superlattices. A second device consisting in a modified circular transfer line method structure was used to extract the electrical conductivity of the materials. A range of p-Ge/Si{sub 0.5}Ge{sub 0.5} superlattices with different doping levels was investigated in detail to determine the role of the doping density in dictating the thermoelectric properties. A second set of n-Ge/Si{sub 0.3}Ge{sub 0.7} superlattices was fabricated to study the impact that quantum well thickness might have on the two thermoelectric figures of merit, and also to demonstrate a further reduction of the thermal conductivity by scattering phonons at different wavelengths. This technique has demonstrated to lower the thermal conductivity by a 25% by adding different barrier thicknesses per period. - Highlights: • Growth of epitaxial Ge/SiGe superlattices on Si substrates as energy harvesters • Study of cross-plane thermoelectric properties of Ge/SiGe superlattices at 300 K • Thermoelectric figures of merit studied as a function of doping density • Phonon scattering at different wavelengths to reduce thermal transport.

Thermoelectric properties of electrodeposited tellurium films and the sodium lignosulfonate effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abad, Begoña; Rull-Bravo, Marta; Hodson, Stephen L.; Xu, Xianfan; Martin-Gonzalez, Marisol

2015-01-01

The effect of the addition of a surfactant, sodium lignosulfonate (SLS), on the thermoelectric properties of tellurium films prepared by electrochemical deposition is studied. The growth mechanism is found to have an important role in the thermoelectric properties since the grain size of the films is sharply reduced when the surfactant is added to the solution. For this reason, the electrical resistivity of the tellurium films when the surfactant is not added is 229 μΩ·m, which is lower than 798 μΩ·m with SLS. The Seebeck coefficient values are not influenced, with values in the vicinity of 285 μV/K for both solutions. The power factor resulted higher values than previous works, reaching values of 280 μW/m·K 2 (without SLS) and 82 μW/m·K 2 (with SLS) at room temperature. Finally, the thermal conductivity was measured by means of the Photoacoustic technique, which showed values of the order of 1 W/m·K for both solutions, which is a factor of 3 less than the bulk value of tellurium. A notable observation is that the power factor and the thermal conductivity of electrodeposited tellurium films have the same order of magnitude of bismuth telluride films grown by electrodeposition. The figure of merit is estimated to be approximately one order of magnitude higher than the bulk value, 0.09 without SLS and 0.03 with SLS, both at room temperature

Electronic Structure Properties and a Bonding Model of Thermoelectric Half-Heusler and Boride Phases

Science.gov (United States)

Simonson, Jack William

Half-Heusler alloys MNiSn and MCoSb (M = Ti, Zr, Hf) and layered boride intermetallics with structure types YCrB4 and Er 3CrB7 were designed, synthesized, and characterized. The thermoelectric properties of these two classes of alloys were measured from room temperature to 1100 K with the intent of indirectly studying their electronic structure properties and gauging not only their suitability but that of related alloys for high temperature thermoelectric power generation. In the case of the half-Heusler alloys, transition metals were substituted to both the M and Ni/Co sites to study the resultant modifications of the d-orbital-rich portion of the electronic structure near the Fermi energy. This modification and subsequent pinning of the Fermi energy within the gap is discussed herein in terms of first principles electronic structure calculations from the literature. In the half-Heusler alloys, it was found that substitution of transition metals invariably led to a decrease in the thermopower, while the resistivity typically maintained its semiconducting trend. On the other hand, Sn doping in MCoSb type alloys -- a dopant that has been known for some time to be efficient -- was shown to result in high ZT at temperatures in excess of 1000 K. Moreover, the band gaps of the transition metal-doped alloys measured in this work offer insight into the discrepancy between the predicted and measured band gaps in the undoped parent compositions. In the case of the layered boride alloys, on the other hand, few electronic calculations have been published, thus prompting the generalization of a well-known electron counting rule -- which is typically used to study molecular organometallics, boranes, and metallocenes -- to predict the trends in the densities of states of crystalline solids that possess the requisite deltahedral bonding geometry. In accordance with these generalized electronic counting rules, alloys of the form RMB4 (R = Y, Gd, Ho; M = Cr, Mo, W) were measured to

Discussion on the electrical and thermoelectrical properties of amorphous In-Sb-Te Films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aly, K.A. [University of Jeddah, Physics Department, Faculty of Science and Arts, Khulais, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia); Al-Azhar University, Assiut Branch, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Asyut (Egypt); Saddeek, Y. [Al-Azhar University, Assiut Branch, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Asyut (Egypt); Dahshan, A. [Port Said University, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Port Said (Egypt); King Khalid University, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science for Girls, Abha (Saudi Arabia)

2016-03-15

Different compositions of (In{sub 0.5}Sb{sub 0.5}){sub 1-x}Te{sub x} (0.50 ≤ x ≤ 0.65) thin films were prepared by thermal evaporated technique, onto pre-cleaned glass substrates at ∝298 K. Both dark electrical resistivity (ρ) and thermoelectric power (S) were measured in the temperature range 300-420 K. The concentration of the free carriers is obtained from DC conductivity and thermoelectric power measurements. Seebeck coefficient was found to be positive over entire temperature range, indicating that (In{sub 0.5}Sb{sub 0.5}){sub 1-x}Te{sub x} films are p-type semiconducting materials. Also, the variation of the mobility with temperature has been estimated. Increasing tellurium concentration is found to affect the DC conductivity and thermoelectric power of the studied films. The activation energies obtained from the DC conductivity and thermoelectric power increase with increasing tellurium content. The obtained results were interpreted according to the chemical bond approach. (orig.)

Thermoelectric properties of P-type Sb2Te3 thick film processed by a screen-printing technique and a subsequent annealing process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sun Jin; We, Ju Hyung; Kim, Jin Sang; Kim, Gyung Soo; Cho, Byung Jin

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We report on thermoelectric properties of screen-printed Sb 2 Te 3 thick film. • Subsequent annealing process determines thermoelectric properties of Sb 2 Te 3 film. • Annealing in tellurium powder ambient contributes to tellurium-rich Sb 2 Te 3 film. • Annealing in tellurium powder ambient enhances carrier mobility of Sb 2 Te 3 film. -- Abstract: We herein report the thermoelectric properties of Sb 2 Te 3 thick film fabricated by a screen-printing technique and a subsequent annealing process. Each step of the screen-printing fabrication process of Sb 2 Te 3 thick film is described in detail. It was found that the subsequent annealing process must be carefully designed to achieve good thermoelectric properties of the screen-printed film. The results show that the annealing of the screen-printed Sb 2 Te 3 thick film together with tellurium powder in the same process chamber significantly improves the carrier mobility by increasing the average scattering time of the carrier in the film, resulting in a large improvement of the power factor. By optimizing the annealing process, we achieved a maximum thermoelectric figure-of-merit, ZT, of 0.32 at room temperature, which is slightly higher than that of bulk Sb 2 Te 3 . Because screen-printing is a simple and low-cost process and given that it is easy to scale up to large sizes, this result will be useful for the realization of large, film-type thermoelectric devices

Revealing the optoelectronic and thermoelectric properties of the Zintl quaternary arsenides ACdGeAs{sub 2} (A = K, Rb)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Azam, Sikander; Khan, Saleem Ayaz [New Technologies—Research Center, University of West Bohemia, Univerzitni 8, 306 14 Pilsen (Czech Republic); Goumri-Said, Souraya, E-mail: Souraya.Goumri-Said@chemistry.gatech.edu [School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400 (United States)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • Zintl tetragonal phase ACdGeAs{sub 2} (A = K, Rb) are chalcopyrite and semiconductors. • Their direct band gap is suitable for PV, optolectronic and thermoelectric applications. • Combination of DFT and Boltzmann transport theory is employed. • The present arsenides are found to be covalent materials. - Abstract: Chalcopyrite semiconductors have attracted much attention due to their potential implications in photovoltaic and thermoelectric applications. First principle calculations were performed to investigate the electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties of the Zintl tetragonal phase ACdGeAs{sub 2} (A = K, Rb) using the full potential linear augmented plane wave method and the Engle–Vosko GGA (EV–GGA) approximation. The present compounds are found semiconductors with direct band gap and covalent bonding character. The optical transitions are investigated via the dielectric function (real and imaginary parts) along with other related optical constants including refractive index, reflectivity and energy-loss spectrum. Combining results from DFT and Boltzmann transport theory, we reported the thermoelectric properties such as the Seebeck’s coefficient, electrical and thermal conductivity, figure of merit and power factor as function of temperatures. The present chalcopyrite Zintl quaternary arsenides deserve to be explored for their potential applications as thermoelectric materials and for photovoltaic devices.

Thermoelectrical properties of the compounds ScM{sup VIII}Sb and YM{sup VIII}Sb (M{sup VIII} = Ni, Pd, Pt)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oestreich, J; Probst, U; Richardt, F; Bucher, E [University of Konstanz, PO Box X916, D-78457 Konstanz (Germany)

2003-02-05

The research into new materials with good thermoelectric properties has revealed new compounds consisting of metallic elements (Bando Y, Suemitsu T, Takagi K, Tokushima H, Echizen Y, Katoh K, Umeo K, Maeda Y and Takabatake T 2000 J. Alloys Compounds 313 1-6, Ghelani N, Loo S, Chung D, Sportouch S, Nardi S, Kanatzidis M, Hogan T and Nolas G 2000 Mater. Res. Soc. 626 Z8.6.1). The half-Heusler compound ZrNiSn, in particular, shows promising thermoelectric properties and has been studied by many scientists during recent years (Uher C, Hu S, Yang J, Meisner G P and Morelli D T 1997 Proc. ICT'97: 16th Int. Conf. on Thermoelectrics pp 485-8, Romaka L P, Stadnyk Yu V, Goryn A M, Gorelenko Yu K and Skolozdra R V 1997 Proc. ICT'97: 16th Int. Conf. on Thermoelectrics pp 516-19, Hohl H, Ramirez A P, Goldmann C, Ernst G, Woelfing B and Bucher E 1998 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 11 1697-709, Oestreich J, Kaefer W, Richardt F, Probst U and Bucher E 1999 Proc. 5th European Workshop on Thermoelectrics pp 192-5). In an effort to find new thermoelectric materials, the half-Heusler compounds of the groups ScM{sup VIII}Sb and YM{sup VIII}Sb (M{sup VIII} = Ni, Pd, Pt) were synthesized by arc melting and the thermoelectric properties were examined by standard characterization methods. Doping experiments showed that it is possible to change the electrical properties of the compounds while retaining the half-Heusler structure. Within the two groups, YPtSb showed the best thermoelectrical properties. At a temperature of 400 K the electrical conductivity of YPtSb is 748{omega}{sup -1} cm{sup -1} and the Seebeck coefficient is 116.3{mu}V K{sup -1}. The thermal conductivity at 400 K extrapolated using the Wiedemann-Franz law is 2.87 W K{sup -1} m{sup -1}. This leads to a dimensionless figure of merit of 0.14.

Promising bulk nanostructured Cu₂Se thermoelectrics via high throughput and rapid chemical synthesis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tafti, Mohsen Y.; Ballikaya, Sedat; Khachatourian, Adrine Malek

2016-01-01

of Cu2Se were synthesized. Powder samples and compacted pellets have been characterized in detail for their structural, microstructural and transport properties. α to β phase transition of Cu2Se was confirmed using temperature dependent X-ray powder diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry...... truncated morphology. Through a detailed investigation of different parameters in the compaction process, such as applied load, heating rate, and cooling profiles, pellets with preserved nanostructured grains were obtained. An applied load during the controlled cooling profile was demonstrated to have a big...... impact on the final thermoelectric efficiency of the consolidated pellets. A very high thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) above 2 was obtained at 900 K for SPS-compacted Cu2Se nanopowders in the absence of the applied load during the controlled cooling step. The obtained ZT exceeds the state of the art...

Thermoelectric power and electrical conductivity of strontium-doped lanthanum manganite

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahlgren, E.O.; Poulsen, F.W.

1996-01-01

Thermoelectric power and electrical conductivity of pure and 5, 10 and 20% strontium-doped lanthanum manganite are determined as function of temperature in air and of P-O2 at 1000 degrees C. At high temperatures the thermoelectric power is negative. Both thermoelectric power and conductivity...

Thermoelectric properties of p-type sb-doped Cu2SnSe3 near room and mid temperature applications

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, K. Shyam; Rao, Ashok; Chauhan, Nagendra S.; Bhardwaj, Ruchi; Vishwakarma, Avinash; Tyagi, Kriti

2018-02-01

In this study, we report low and mid temperature range thermoelectric properties of Sb-substituted Cu2SnSe3 compounds. The Cu2Sn1- x Sb x Se3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.04) alloys were prepared using conventional solid-state reaction followed by spark plasma sintering. The crystal structure was characterized using XRD and it reveals that all the samples exhibit cubic structure with space group -4/3m. The electrical transport characteristics indicate degenerate semiconducting behavior. Electrical resistivity was found to follow small polaron hopping (SPH) model in the entire temperature range of investigation. The Seebeck coefficient data reveals that the majority of charge carriers are holes and the analysis of Seebeck coefficient data gives negative values of Fermi energy indicating that the Fermi energy is below the edge of valence band. The electronic contribution ( κ e) for total thermal conductivity is found to be less than 1%. The maximum ZT value of 0.64 is observed for the sample with x = 0.03 (at 700 K) which is approximately 2.3 times that of the pristine sample.

Magnetic and thermoelectric properties of three different atomic ratio of Bi/Mn in BiMn2O5: DFT approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, Wilayat; Reshak, A.H.; Rafezi Ahmad, Khairel; Alahmed, Z.A.

2014-01-01

Electronic structure and magnetic properties of the three different samples of BiMn 2 O 5 , are calculated using the density functional theory (DFT). These samples have different Bi/Mn concentration. For simplicity, we suggest to call them as A, B and C. The calculated band structures show half metallicity for all samples, and possess 100% spin polarization at the Fermi level. The spin up/down density of states are calculated using Engel–Vosko generalized gradient approximation (EV-GGA). We have discussed the effect of Mn magnetic moment (μ B ) on the electronic and magnetic properties of the entire samples. The temperature dependent thermoelectric properties like electrical and thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and power factor are also calculated, employing the Boltzmann transport theory under the BoltzTraP code. Our results indicated that these properties are strongly dependent on Bi/Mn concentration. - Highlights: • FPLAPW method used for calculating the electronic Structure. • The band structure shows that the calculated compounds are half metallic. • The magnetic properties have been calculated. • Thermoelectric properties were also calculated using Boltzmann theory. • Calculated power factor shows that sample B are good thermoelectric material

Thermoelectric properties and nonstoichiometry of GaGeTe

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Drašar, Č.; Kucek, V.; Beneš, L.; Lošťák, P.; Vlček, Milan

2012-01-01

Roč. 193, SI (2012), s. 42-46 ISSN 0022-4596 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40500505 Keywords : gallium germanium telluride * thermoelectric properties * stoichiometry Subject RIV: CA - Inorganic Chemistry Impact factor: 2.040, year: 2012

High-Temperature Performance of Stacked Silicon Nanowires for Thermoelectric Power Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Stranz, Andrej; Waag, Andreas; Peiner, Erwin

2013-07-01

Deep reactive-ion etching at cryogenic temperatures (cryo-DRIE) has been used to produce arrays of silicon nanowires (NWs) for thermoelectric (TE) power generation devices. Using cryo-DRIE, we were able to fabricate NWs of large aspect ratios (up to 32) using a photoresist mask. Roughening of the NW sidewalls occurred, which has been recognized as beneficial for low thermal conductivity. Generated NWs, which were 7 μm in length and 220 nm to 270 nm in diameter, were robust enough to be stacked with a bulk silicon chip as a common top contact to the NWs. Mechanical support of the NW array, which can be created by filling the free space between the NWs using silicon oxide or polyimide, was not required. The Seebeck voltage, measured across multiple stacks of up to 16 bulk silicon dies, revealed negligible thermal interface resistance. With stacked silicon NWs, we observed Seebeck voltages that were an order of magnitude higher than those observed for bulk silicon. Degradation of the TE performance of silicon NWs was not observed for temperatures up to 470°C and temperature gradients up to 170 K.

Characterization of the interface between an Fe–Cr alloy and the p-type thermoelectric oxide Ca3Co4O9

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holgate, Tim; Han, Li; Wu, NingYu

2014-01-01

A customized Fe–Cr alloy that has been optimized for high temperature applications in oxidizing atmospheres has been interfaced via spark plasma sintering (SPS) with a p-type thermoelectric oxide material: calcium cobaltate (Ca3Co4O9). The properties of the alloy have been analyzed for its...... calcium and chromium in the interface that is highly resistive at room temperature, but conducting at the intended thermoelectric device hot-side operating temperature of 800 °C. As the alloy is well matched in terms of its thermal expansion and highly conducting compared to the Ca3Co4O9, it may...... be further considered as an interconnect material candidate at least with application on the hot-side of an oxide thermoelectric power generation module....

High thermoelectric potential of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} alloyed GeTe-rich phases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Madar, Naor; Givon, Tom; Mogilyansky, Dmitry; Gelbstein, Yaniv [Department of Materials Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva (Israel)

2016-07-21

In an attempt to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, associated with severe environmental effects, the current research is focused on the identification of the thermoelectric potential of p-type (GeTe){sub 1−x}(Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}){sub x} alloys, with x values of up to 20%. Higher solubility limit of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} in GeTe, than previously reported, was identified around ∼9%, extending the doping potential of GeTe by the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} donor dopant, for an effective compensation of the high inherent hole concentration of GeTe toward thermoelectrically optimal values. Around the solubility limit of 9%, an electronic optimization resulted in an impressive maximal thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, of ∼1.55 at ∼410 °C, which is one of the highest ever reported for any p-type GeTe-rich alloys. Beyond the solubility limit, a Fermi Level Pinning effect of stabilizing the Seebeck coefficient was observed in the x = 12%–17% range, leading to stabilization of the maximal ZTs over an extended temperature range; an effect that was associated with the potential of the governed highly symmetric Ge{sub 8}Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 11} and Ge{sub 4}Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 7} phases to create high valence band degeneracy with several bands and multiple hole pockets on the Fermi surface. At this compositional range, co-doping with additional dopants, creating shallow impurity levels (in contrast to the deep lying level created by Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}), was suggested for further electronic optimization of the thermoelectric properties.

Nonlinear thermoelectric effects in high-field superconductor-ferromagnet tunnel junctions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan Kolenda

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Thermoelectric effects result from the coupling of charge and heat transport and can be used for thermometry, cooling and harvesting of thermal energy. The microscopic origin of thermoelectric effects is a broken electron–hole symmetry, which is usually quite small in metal structures. In addition, thermoelectric effects decrease towards low temperatures, which usually makes them vanishingly small in metal nanostructures in the sub-Kelvin regime.Results: We report on a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of thermoelectric effects in superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid structures. We investigate the dependence of thermoelectric currents on the thermal excitation, as well as on the presence of a dc bias voltage across the junction.Conclusion: Large thermoelectric effects are observed in superconductor/ferromagnet and superconductor/normal-metal hybrid structures. The spin-independent signals observed under finite voltage bias are shown to be reciprocal to the physics of superconductor/normal-metal microrefrigerators. The spin-dependent thermoelectric signals in the linear regime are due to the coupling of spin and heat transport, and can be used to design more efficient refrigerators.

Performance and stress analysis of oxide thermoelectric module architecture designed for maximum power output

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wijesekara, Waruna; Rosendahl, Lasse; Wu, NingYu

Oxide thermoelectric materials are promising candidates for energy harvesting from mid to high temperature heat sources. In this work, the oxide thermoelectric materials and the final design of the high temperature thermoelectric module were developed. Also, prototypes of oxide thermoelectric...... of real thermoelectric uni-couples, the three-dimensional governing equations for the coupled heat transfer and thermoelectric effects were developed. Finite element simulations of this system were done using the COMSOL Multiphysics solver. Prototypes of the models were developed and the analytical...... generator were built for high temperature applications. This paper specifically discusses the thermoelectric module design and the prototype validations of the design. Here p type calcium cobalt oxide and n type aluminum doped ZnO were developed as the oxide thermoelectric materials. Hot side and cold side...

The thermoelectric performance of bulk three-dimensional graphene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Zhi, E-mail: yangzhi@tyut.edu.cn [Key Lab of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Lan, Guoqiang; Ouyang, Bin [Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal H3A 0C5 (Canada); Xu, Li-Chun; Liu, Ruiping [College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Liu, Xuguang, E-mail: liuxuguang@tyut.edu.cn [Key Lab of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials, Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Song, Jun [Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal H3A 0C5 (Canada)

2016-11-01

The electronic and thermoelectric properties of a new carbon bulk material, three-dimensional (3D) graphene, are investigated in this study. Our results show that 3D graphene has unique electronic structure, i.e., near the Fermi level there exist Dirac cones. More importantly, the thermoelectric performance of 3D graphene is excellent, at room temperature the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) is 0.21, an order of magnitude higher than that of graphene. By introducing line defects, the ZT of 3D graphene could be enhanced to 1.52, indicating 3D graphene is a powerful candidate for constructing novel thermoelectric materials. - Highlights: • There exist Dirac cones in three-dimensional (3D) graphene. • The thermoelectric performance of 3D graphene is excellent. • The defective 3D graphene has better thermoelectric performance.

High-efficiency photovoltaic technology including thermoelectric generation

Science.gov (United States)

Fisac, Miguel; Villasevil, Francesc X.; López, Antonio M.

2014-04-01

Nowadays, photovoltaic solar energy is a clean and reliable source for producing electric power. Most photovoltaic systems have been designed and built up for use in applications with low power requirements. The efficiency of solar cells is quite low, obtaining best results in monocrystalline silicon structures, with an efficiency of about 18%. When temperature rises, photovoltaic cell efficiency decreases, given that the short-circuit current is slightly increased, and the open-circuit voltage, fill factor and power output are reduced. To ensure that this does not affect performance, this paper describes how to interconnect photovoltaic and thermoelectric technology into a single structure. The temperature gradient in the solar panel is used to supply thermoelectric cells, which generate electricity, achieving a positive contribution to the total balance of the complete system.

High-performance thermoelectric materials based on ternary TiO2/CNT/PANI composites.

Science.gov (United States)

Erden, Fuat; Li, Hui; Wang, Xizu; Wang, FuKe; He, Chaobin

2018-04-04

In the present work, we report the fabrication of high-performance thermoelectric materials using TiO2/CNT/PANI ternary composites. We showed that a conductivity of ∼2730 S cm-1 can be achieved for the binary CNT (70%)/PANI (30%) composite, which is the highest recorded value for the reported CNT/PANI composites. We further demonstrated that the Seebeck coefficient of CNT/PANI composites could be enhanced by incorporating TiO2 nanoparticles into the binary CNT/PANI composites, which could be attributed to lower carrier density and the energy scattering of low-energy carriers at the interfaces of TiO2/a-CNT and TiO2/PANI. The resulting TiO2/a-CNT/PANI ternary system exhibits a higher Seebeck coefficient and enhanced thermoelectric power. Further optimization of the thermoelectric power was achieved by water treatment and by tuning the processing temperature. A high thermoelectric power factor of 114.5 μW mK-2 was obtained for the ternary composite of 30% TiO2/70% (a-CNT (70%)/PANI (30%)), which is the highest reported value among the reported PANI based ternary composites. The improvement of thermoelectric performance by incorporation of TiO2 suggests a promising approach to enhance power factor of organic thermoelectric materials by judicial tuning of the carrier concentration and electrical conductivity.

A research on thermoelectric generator's electrical performance under temperature mismatch conditions for automotive waste heat recovery system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z.B. Tang

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The thermoelectric generators recover useful energy by the function of thermoelectric modules which can convert waste heat energy into electricity from automotive exhaust. In the actual operation, the electrical connected thermoelectric modules are operated under temperature mismatch conditions and then the problem of decreased power output causes due to the inhomogeneous temperature gradient distribution on heat exchanger surface. In this case study, an individual module test system and a test bench have been carried out to test and analyze the impact of thermal imbalance on the output electrical power at module and system level. Variability of the temperature difference and clamping pressure are also tested in the individual module measurement. The system level experimental results clearly describe the phenomenon of thermoelectric generator's decreased power output under mismatched temperature condition and limited working temperature. This situation is improved with thermal insulation on the modules and proved to be effective.

Mechanical properties of BixSb2−xTe3 nanostructured thermoelectric material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, G; Gadelrab, K R; Souier, T; Chiesa, M; Potapov, P L; Chen, G

2012-01-01

Research on thermoelectric (TE) materials has been focused on their transport properties in order to maximize their overall performance. Mechanical properties, which are crucial for system reliability, are often overlooked. The recent development of a new class of high-performance, low-dimension thermoelectric materials calls for a better understanding of their mechanical behavior to achieve the desired system reliability. In the present study we investigate the mechanical behavior of nanostructure bulk TE material p-type Bi x Sb 2−x Te 3 by means of nanoindentation and 3D finite element analysis. The Young’s modulus of the material was estimated by the Oliver–Pharr (OP) method and by means of numerically assisted nanoindentation analysis yielding comparable values about 40 GPa. Enhanced hardness and yield strength can be predicted for this nanostructured material. Microstructure is studied and correlation with mechanical properties is discussed. (paper)

Estimating Seebeck Coefficient of a p-Type High Temperature Thermoelectric Material Using Bee Algorithm Multi-layer Perception

Science.gov (United States)

Uysal, Fatih; Kilinc, Enes; Kurt, Huseyin; Celik, Erdal; Dugenci, Muharrem; Sagiroglu, Selami

2017-08-01

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) convert heat into electrical energy. These energy-conversion systems do not involve any moving parts and are made of thermoelectric (TE) elements connected electrically in a series and thermally in parallel; however, they are currently not suitable for use in regular operations due to their low efficiency levels. In order to produce high-efficiency TEGs, there is a need for highly heat-resistant thermoelectric materials (TEMs) with an improved figure of merit ( ZT). Production and test methods used for TEMs today are highly expensive. This study attempts to estimate the Seebeck coefficient of TEMs by using the values of existing materials in the literature. The estimation is made within an artificial neural network (ANN) based on the amount of doping and production methods. Results of the estimations show that the Seebeck coefficient can approximate the real values with an average accuracy of 94.4%. In addition, ANN has detected that any change in production methods is followed by a change in the Seebeck coefficient.

Tuning the Transport Properties of Layered Materials for Thermoelectric Applications using First-Principles Calculations

KAUST Repository

Saeed, Yasir

2014-01-01

opening and reduction of the lattice thermal conductivity. Bi2Se3 (bulk and thin film) has a larger bandgap then the well-known thermoelectric material Bi2Te3, which is important at high temperature. The structural stability, electronic structure

High Temperature Thermoelectric Oxides Engineered At Multiple Length Scales For Energy Harvesting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ohuchi, Fumio [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Bordia, Rajendra [Clemson Univ., SC (United States)

2014-12-20

Thermoelectric aspects of the processing parameters the n-type relaxors, including Sr_xBa_1-xNb₂O₆ (SBN100x), Sr₂Nb₂O₇ (SN) and SrBi₂Nb₂O₉ (SBiN), were investigated. A solution combustion synthesis (SCS) route was devised to fabricate SBN, SN and SBiN nanoparticles with excellent phase purity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to deduce the local cation site occupancy, and detailed thermoelectric transport processes were investigated. Based on the identified behavior, effectiveness of pore formers on the thermoelectric performance was investigated with the goal of decreasing κ through enhanced phonon scattering while preserving the electron transport characteristics.

Thermoelectric figure of merit of chiral carbon nanotube

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mensah, N.G.; Nkrumah-Buandoh, G.K.; Mensah, S.Y.; Allotey, F.K.A.; Twum, A.K.

2005-09-01

We have investigated the thermoelectrical properties of chiral carbon nanotube and numerically evaluated the figure of merit. We observed that the properties are highly anisotropic and depend on the geometric chiral angle (GCA) θ h , temperature and the overlapping integrals (exchange energy) for the jumps along the tubular axis Δ z and the base helix Δ s . The thermopower α exhibited giant values with the peak occurring between 100 K and 150 K. The electron thermal conductivity showed unusually high value with the peaks shifting towards high temperature. We attribute the high peak values to electron-phonon interactions. Finally we noted that by changing the Δ s and Δ z it is possible to get a figure of merit greater than 1. (author)

A bottom-up route to enhance thermoelectric figures of merit in graphene nanoribbons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sevincli, Haldun; Sevik, Cem; Cagin, Tahir

2013-01-01

We propose a hybrid nano-structuring scheme for tailoring thermal and thermoelectric transport properties of graphene nanoribbons. Geometrical structuring and isotope cluster engineering are the elements that constitute the proposed scheme. Using first-principles based force constants and Hamilto......We propose a hybrid nano-structuring scheme for tailoring thermal and thermoelectric transport properties of graphene nanoribbons. Geometrical structuring and isotope cluster engineering are the elements that constitute the proposed scheme. Using first-principles based force constants...... and Hamiltonians, we show that the thermal conductance of graphene nanoribbons can be reduced by 98.8% at room temperature and the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, can be as high as 3.25 at T = 800 K. The proposed scheme relies on a recently developed bottom-up fabrication method, which is proven to be feasible...

Thermoelectric properties, crystal and electronic structure of semiconducting RECuSe{sub 2} (RE = Pr, Sm, Gd, Dy and Er)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Esmaeili, Mehdi [Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1 (Canada); Tseng, Yu-Chih [CANMET Materials, Natural Resources Canada, 183 Longwood Road South, Hamilton, Ontario L8P 0A5 (Canada); Mozharivskyj, Yurij, E-mail: mozhar@mcmaster.ca [Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1 (Canada)

2014-10-15

Highlights: • Crystal and electronic structure of monoclinic and trigonal RECuSe{sub 2} phases. • Thermoelectric properties of the RECuSe{sub 2} phases. • Temperature stability of the RECuSe{sub 2} phases. - Abstract: The ternary RECuSe{sub 2} phases have been prepared and structurally characterized. They adopt either a monoclinic structure (P2{sub 1}/c, z = 4) for lighter rare earths (RE = Pr, Sm and Gd) or Cu-disordered trigonal structure for heavier rare-earths (P3{sup ¯}m1, z = 1, RE = Dy and Er). The resistivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements on GdCuSe{sub 2}, DyCuSe{sub 2} and ErCuSe{sub 2} indicate that the studied phases are p-type semiconductors with relatively small activation energies (0.045–0.11 eV). However, their electrical resistivities are too high (0.45–220 Ω cm at room temperature) to make them competitive thermoelectric materials. Electronic structure calculations indicate presence of a band gap in the RECuSe{sub 2} phases.

Development of thermoelectric power generation system utilizing heat of combustible solid waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kajikawa, T.; Ito, M.; Katsube, I.; Shibuya, E.

1994-01-01

The paper presents the development of thermoelectric power generation system utilizing heat of municipal solid waste. The systematic classification and design guideline are proposed in consideration of the characteristics of solid waste processing system. The conceptual design of thermoelectric power generation system is carried out for a typical middle scale incinerator system (200 ton/day) by the local model. Totally the recovered electricity is 926.5 kWe by 445 units (569,600 couples). In order to achieve detailed design, one dimensional steady state model taking account of temperature dependency of the heat transfer performance and thermoelectric properties is developed. Moreover, small scale on-site experiment on 60 W class module installed in the real incinerator is carried out to extract various levels of technological problems. In parallel with the system development, high temperature thermoelectric elements such as Mn-Si and so on are developed aiming the optimization of ternary compound and high performance due to controlled fine-grain boundary effect. The manganese silicide made by shrinking-rate controlled sintering method performs 5 (μW/cm K2) in power factor at 800 K. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics

Effect of quantum confinement on thermoelectric properties of vanadium dioxide nanofilms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khan, G.R.; Ahmad, Bilal [National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Nanotech Research Lab, Department of Physics, Kashmir (India)

2017-12-15

The quantum confinement effect on thermoelectric properties of pristine vanadium dioxide (VO{sub 2}) nanofilms across semiconductor to metal phase transition (SMT) has been demonstrated by studying VO{sub 2} nanofilms of 15 nm thickness in comparison to microfilms of 290 nm thickness synthesized via inorganic sol-gel method casted on glass substrates by spin coating technique. The ebbing of phase transition temperature in nanofilms across SMT was consistent with the results obtained from resistance-temperature hysteresis contour during SMT dynamics of the nanofilms. The temperature dependent Hall and Seebeck measurements revealed that electrons were the charge carriers in the nanofilms and that the value of charge carrier concentration increased as much as 4 orders of magnitude while going across SMT which stood responsible almost entirely for resistance variations. The decline in carrier mobility and escalation in Seebeck coefficient in the low temperature semiconducting region were splendidly witnessed across SMT. (orig.)

Carbon-Nanotube-Based Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blackburn, Jeffrey L. [Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 80401-3305 USA; Ferguson, Andrew J. [Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 80401-3305 USA; Cho, Chungyeon [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A& M University, College Station TX 77843-3003 USA; Grunlan, Jaime C. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A& M University, College Station TX 77843-3003 USA

2018-01-22

Conversion of waste heat to voltage has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a number of critical energy sectors, such as the transportation and electricity-generation sectors, and manufacturing processes. Thermal energy is also an abundant low-flux source that can be harnessed to power portable/wearable electronic devices and critical components in remote off-grid locations. As such, a number of different inorganic and organic materials are being explored for their potential in thermoelectric-energy-harvesting devices. Carbon-based thermoelectric materials are particularly attractive due to their use of nontoxic, abundant source-materials, their amenability to high-throughput solution-phase fabrication routes, and the high specific energy (i.e., W g-1) enabled by their low mass. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) represent a unique 1D carbon allotrope with structural, electrical, and thermal properties that enable efficient thermoelectric-energy conversion. Here, the progress made toward understanding the fundamental thermoelectric properties of SWCNTs, nanotube-based composites, and thermoelectric devices prepared from these materials is reviewed in detail. This progress illuminates the tremendous potential that carbon-nanotube-based materials and composites have for producing high-performance next-generation devices for thermoelectric-energy harvesting.

Thermoelectric effects in magnetic nanostructures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hatami, Moosa; Bauer, Gerrit E.W.; Zhang, Q.F.; Kelly, Paul J.

2009-01-01

We model and evaluate the Peltier and Seebeck effects in magnetic multilayer nanostructures by a finite-element theory of thermoelectric properties. We present analytical expressions for the thermopower and the current-induced temperature changes due to Peltier cooling/heating. The thermopower of a

Rapid characterization of thermoelectric properties of composition spread (La1-xCax)VO3 films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itaka, K.; Wang, Q.J.; Minami, H.; Kawaji, H.; Koinuma, H.

2004-01-01

Vanadium oxides possess various interesting properties due to multivalence of a vanadium atom and attract our interest as a target material for the exploration of new applications. We investigated vanadates (La 1-x Ca x )VO 3 with a perovskite structure as thermoelectric (TE) materials because heavy electrons in vanadates are expected to generate large thermopower. To proceed the investigation of thermoelectric properties of the composition spread library more efficiently, we devised a new instrument of multi-channel measurement of their thermoelectric properties. The polarity of Seebeck coefficients changed from positive (0≤x≤0.2) to negative (0.2 3 (x∼0)

Microstructures and thermoelectric properties of GeSbTe based layered compounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yan, F.; Zhu, T.J.; Zhao, X.B. [Zhejiang University, State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Hangzhou (China); Dong, S.R. [Zhejiang University, Department of Information and Electronics Engineering, Hangzhou (China)

2007-08-15

Microstructures and thermoelectric properties of Ge{sub 1}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 4} and Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} chalcogenide semiconductors have been investigated to explore the possibility of their thermoelectric applications. The phase transformation from the face-centered cubic to hexagonal structure was observed in Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} compounds prepared by the melt spinning technique. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity of the alloys were increased due to the enhanced scattering of charge carriers at grain boundaries. The maximum power factors of the rapidly solidified Ge{sub 1}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 4} and Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} attained 0.975 x 10{sup -3} Wm{sup -1}K{sup -2} at 750 K and 0.767 x 10{sup -3} Wm{sup -1}K{sup -2} at 643 K respectively, higher than those of water quenched counterparts, implying that thermoelectric properties of GeSbTe based layered compounds can be improved by grain refinement. The present results show this class of chalcogenide semiconductors is promising for thermoelectric applications. (orig.)

Enhanced electrical transport and thermoelectric properties in Ni doped Cu3SbSe4

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Aparabal; Dhama, P.; Das, Anish; Sarkar, Kalyan Jyoti; Banerji, P.

2018-05-01

In this study, we report the enhanced thermoelectric performance of Cu3SbSe4 by Ni doping at Cu site. Cu3-xNixSbSe4 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05) were prepared by melt growth, ball milling followed by spark plasma sintering. Structural characterization, phase analysis and surface morphology were carried out using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Electrical and thermal properties of all the samples were investigated in the temperature range 300 - 650 K. Decrease in electrical resistivity with Ni doping due to increase in carrier concentration with enhanced Seebeck coefficient via increase in density of state near the Fermi level gives a remarkably high power factor. At the same time, thermal conductivity was found to decrease due to increased carrier-phonon scattering and acoustic phonon scattering. Consequently, a remarkable enhancement in the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT˜ 0.65) of Cu3-xNixSbSe4 was achieved for x = 0.01 sample. Thus, Ni doping is an effective approach to improve the efficiency of Cu3SbSe4.

Crystal structure and high temperature transport properties of Yb-filled p-type skutterudites YbxCo2.5Fe1.5Sb12

KAUST Repository

Dong, Yongkwan

2014-01-01

Partially Yb-filled Fe substituted polycrystalline p-type skutterudites with nominal compositions YbxCo2.5Fe1.5Sb 12, with varying filler concentrations x, were synthesized by reacting the constituent elements and subsequent solid state annealing, followed by densification by hot-pressing. The compositions and filling fractions were confirmed with a combination of Rietveld refinement and elemental analysis. Their thermoelectric properties were evaluated from 300 to 800 K. The Seebeck coefficients for the specimens increase with increasing temperature and plateau at around 750 K. The thermal conductivity decreases with increasing Yb filling fraction, and bipolar conduction becomes evident and increases at elevated temperatures. A maximum ZT value of 0.8 was obtained at 750 K for Yb 0.47Co2.6Fe1.4Sb12. The thermoelectric properties and potential for further optimization are discussed in light of our results. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Influence of temperature on thermoelectric properties of Fe{sub x}Co{sub 1−x}S{sub 2} thin films: A semiconductor to semimetal conversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clamagirand, J.M.; Ares, J.R., E-mail: joser.ares@uam.es; Flores, E.; Diaz-Chao, P.; Leardini, F.; Ferrer, I.J.; Sánchez, C.

2016-02-01

In this work, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of p and n-type thin films obtained by cobalt doping of FeS{sub 2}. Films were synthesized by direct sulfuration of Co–Fe thin bilayers at 300 °C. It is found that at room temperature (RT), the Seebeck coefficient is reduced from 80 μV/K to − 70 μV/K when Co concentration is increased and the electrical resistivity of the films is decreased two orders of magnitude. X-ray diffraction and Raman measurements point out that Co is replacing Fe into the pyrite lattice and, subsequently is promoting a semiconductor to semimetal conversion. The influence of temperature on transport properties of different Fe{sub x}Co{sub 1−x}S{sub 2} films has been investigated. Whereas the Seebeck coefficient is hardly modified, the film resistivity is drastically decreased when temperature increases what has been attributed to the thermal activation of electrical carriers. The influence of Co doping on the band scheme of FeS{sub 2} is shown. To this aim, donor and acceptor states are included into its forbidden gap. Whereas the band scheme of FeS{sub 2} exhibits an acceptor level with an E = 0.11 ± 0.03 eV above the top of the valence band due to iron vacancies, a wide donor level close to the bottom of the conduction band (E = 0.08 ± 0.05 eV) is created by the progressive replacement of iron by cobalt into the FeS{sub 2} lattice. - Highlights: • Thermoelectric properties of pyrite and Co-doped pyrite thin films were measured. • Whereas ρ decreases, S remains practically unaltered on increasing temperature (RT-300 °C). • On increasing Co-concentration, films exhibit a p semiconductor to n type semimetal conversion. • Donor states close to the botton of the conduction band are created by Co doping. • Energy of the donor level decreases and gets wider due to Co-concentration.

Design Optimization of a Thermoelectric Cooling Module Using Finite Element Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Abid, Muhammad; Somdalen, Ragnar; Rodrigo, Marina Sancho

2018-05-01

The thermoelectric industry is concerned about the size reduction, cooling performance and, ultimately, the production cost of thermoelectric modules. Optimization of the size and performance of a commercially available thermoelectric cooling module is considered using finite element simulations. Numerical simulations are performed on eight different three-dimensional geometries of a single thermocouple, and the results are further extended for a whole module as well. The maximum temperature rise at the hot and cold sides of a thermocouple is determined by altering its height and cross-sectional area. The influence of the soldering layer is analyzed numerically using temperature dependent and temperature independent thermoelectric properties of the solder material and the semiconductor pellets. Experiments are conducted to test the cooling performance of the thermoelectric module and the results are compared with the results obtained through simulations. Finally, cooling rate and maximum coefficient of performance (COPmax) are computed using convective and non-convective boundary conditions.

Optimization of a thermoelectric generator subsystem for high temperature PEM fuel cell exhaust heat recovery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gao, Xin; Andreasen, Søren Juhl; Kær, Søren Knudsen

2014-01-01

In previous work, a thermoelectric (TE) exhaust heat recovery subsystem for a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cell stack was developed and modeled. Numerical simulations were conducted and have identified an optimized subsystem configuration and 4 types of compact heat...... modules are now connected into branches. The procedures of designing and optimizing this TE exhaust heat recovery subsystem are drawn out. The contribution of TE exhaust heat recovery to the HT-PEM fuel cell power system is preliminarily concluded. Its feasibility is also discussed....... exchangers with superior performance for further analysis. In this work, the on-design performances of the 4 heat exchangers are more thoroughly assessed on their corresponding optimized subsystem configurations. Afterward, their off-design performances are compared on the whole working range of the fuel...

Thermoelectric Properties and Microstructure of Modified Novel Complex Cobalt Oxides Sr₃RECo₄O_10.5 (RE = Y, Gd)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Nong, Ngo; Pryds, Nini

2012-01-01

We report on the high-temperature thermoelectric properties and microstructure of modified novel complex cobalt oxides Sr3RECo4O10.5 (RE = Y, Gd), in which the Sr- and Co-sites are partly substituted by Ca and Ga, respectively. We have found that the sample with RE = Gd shows a significant higher......-sample resulting in a substantial decrease in porosity, its thermal diffusivity exhibits a lower value then the non-doped one, particularly in high temperature region. © 2012 American Institute of Physics...

Disordered Zinc in Zn4Sb3 with Phonon-Glass and Electron-Crystal Thermoelectric Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Christensen, Mogens; Nishibori, Eiji; Caillat, Thierry; Brummerstedt Iversen, Bo

2004-01-01

By converting waste heat into electricity, thermoelectric generators could be an important part of the solution to today's energy challenges. The compound Zn4Sb3 is one of the most efficient thermoelectric materials known. Its high efficiency results from an extraordinarily low thermal conductivity in conjunction with the electronic structure of a heavily doped semiconductor. Previous structural studies have been unable to explain this unusual combination of properties. Here, we show through a comprehensive structural analysis using single-crystal X-ray and powder-synchrotron-radiation diffraction methods, that both the electronic and thermal properties of Zn4Sb3 can be understood in terms of unique structural features that have been previously overlooked. The identification of Sb3- ions and Sb-2(4-) dimers reveals that Zn4Sb3 is a valence semiconductor with the ideal stoichiometry Zn13Sb10. In addition, the structure contains significant disorder, with zinc atoms distributed over multiple positions. The discovery of glass-like interstitial sites uncovers a highly effective mechanism for reducing thermal conductivity. Thus Zn4Sb3 is in many ways an ideal 'phonon glass, electron crystal' thermoelectric material.

Development of Perovskite-Type Materials for Thermoelectric Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tingjun Wu

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Oxide perovskite materials have a long history of being investigated for thermoelectric applications. Compared to the state-of-the-art tin and lead chalcogenides, these perovskite compounds have advantages of low toxicity, eco-friendliness, and high elemental abundance. However, because of low electrical conductivity and high thermal conductivity, the total thermoelectric performance of oxide perovskites is relatively poor. Variety of methods were used to enhance the TE properties of oxide perovskite materials, such as doping, inducing oxygen vacancy, embedding crystal imperfection, and so on. Recently, hybrid perovskite materials started to draw attention for thermoelectric application. Due to the low thermal conductivity and high Seebeck coefficient feature of hybrid perovskites materials, they can be promising thermoelectric materials and hold the potential for the application of wearable energy generators and cooling devices. This mini-review will build a bridge between oxide perovskites and burgeoning hybrid halide perovskites in the research of thermoelectric properties with an aim to further enhance the relevant performance of perovskite-type materials.

LaBiTe3: An unusual thermoelectric material

KAUST Repository

Singh, Nirpendra

2014-06-18

Using first-principles calculations and semi-classical Boltzmann transport theory, the thermoelectric properties of LaBiTe3 are studied. The band gap and, hence, the thermoelectric response are found to be easily tailored by application of strain. Independent of the temperature, the figure of merit turns out to be maximal at a doping of about 1.6 × 1021 cm-3. At room temperature we obtain values of 0.4 and 0.5 for unstrained and moderately strained LaBiTe3, which increases to 1.1 and 1.3 at 800 K. A large spin splitting is observed in the conduction band at the T point. Therefore, LaBiTe3 merges characteristics that are interesting for thermoelectric as well as spintronic devices.

LaBiTe3: An unusual thermoelectric material

KAUST Repository

Singh, Nirpendra; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

2014-01-01

Using first-principles calculations and semi-classical Boltzmann transport theory, the thermoelectric properties of LaBiTe3 are studied. The band gap and, hence, the thermoelectric response are found to be easily tailored by application of strain. Independent of the temperature, the figure of merit turns out to be maximal at a doping of about 1.6 × 1021 cm-3. At room temperature we obtain values of 0.4 and 0.5 for unstrained and moderately strained LaBiTe3, which increases to 1.1 and 1.3 at 800 K. A large spin splitting is observed in the conduction band at the T point. Therefore, LaBiTe3 merges characteristics that are interesting for thermoelectric as well as spintronic devices.

The thermoelectric process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vining, C B

1997-07-01

The efficiency of thermoelectric technology today is limited by the properties of available thermoelectric materials and a wide variety of new approaches to developing better materials have recently been suggested. The key goal is to find a material with a large ZT, the dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit. However, if an analogy is drawn between thermoelectric technology and gas-cycle engines then selecting different materials for the thermoelements is analogous to selecting a different working gas for the mechanical engine. And an attempt to improve ZT is analogous to an attempt to improve certain thermodynamic properties of the working-gas. An alternative approach is to focus on the thermoelectric process itself (rather than on ZT), which is analogous to considering alternate cycles such as Stirling vs. Brayton vs. Rankine etc., rather than merely considering alternative gases. Focusing on the process is a radically different approach compared to previous studies focusing on ZT. Aspects of the thermoelectric process and alternative approaches to efficient thermoelectric conversion are discussed.

Thermoelectric properties of doped BaHfO{sub 3}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dixit, Chandra Kr., E-mail: ckparadise@gmail.com, E-mail: sharmarameshfgiet@gmail.com [Dept. of Physics, Dr. Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow-229001, U.P India (India); Bhamu, K. C. [Department of Physics, Goa University, Goa-403 206 (India); Sharma, Ramesh, E-mail: ckparadise@gmail.com, E-mail: sharmarameshfgiet@gmail.com [Dept. of Physics, Feroze Gandhi Institute of Engineering & Technology, Raebareli-229001, U.P India (India)

2016-05-06

We have studied the structural stability, electronic structure, optical properties and thermoelectric properties of doped BaHfO{sub 3} by full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. The electronic structure of BaHfO{sub 3} doped with Sr shows enhances the indirect band gaps of 3.53 eV, 3.58 eV. The charge density plots show strong ionic bonding in Ba-Hf, and ionic and covalent bonding between Hf and O. Calculations of the optical spectra, viz., the dielectric function, refractive index and extinction coefficient are performed for the energy range are calculated and analyzed. Thermoelectric properties of semi conducting are also reported first time. The doped BaHfO{sub 3} is approximately wide band gap semiconductor with the large p-type Seebeck coefficient. The power factor of BaHfO{sub 3} is increased with Sr doping, decreases because of low electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity.

Notes on Computational Methodology and Tools of Thermoelectric Energy Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Min; Bach, Inger Palsgaard; Rosendahl, Lasse

2007-01-01

The SPICE model allows the concurrent simulation of thermoelectric devices and application electric sub-models. It is an important step to implement the thermoelectric modeling at the system level. In this paper, temperature dependent material properties in the SPICE model, temperature and heat...... flow obtained by the code ANSYS Multiphysics and SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), as well as some notes on the 3-D extension of the SPICE model are introduced....

THERMOELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF HOT-PRESSED p-TYPE Mg2Si0.3Sn0.7 SOLID SOLUTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. N. Isachenko

2014-05-01

Full Text Available It is shown that thermoelectric energy conversion which gives the possibility for utilizing a low potential heat is one of the ways for adoption of energy-saving technologies; and semiconductor materials with p-type and n-type conductivities having high thermoelectric figure of merit are necessary for operation of thermoelectric generators. The paper deals with possibility of usage of the p-Mg2Si0.3Sn0.7 solid solution (with a nanostructured modification as a couple for the well studied thermoelectric material based on n-Mg2Si-Mg2Sn. A technological scheme for fabrication of heavily doped Mg2Si0.3Sn0.7 solid solution of p-type by hot pressing from nanopowder is developed. The given technology has made it possible to reduce duration of a homogeneous material fabrication and has improved its physical and chemical properties. The samples were made by three ways: direct fusion for polycrystals fabrication; hot pressing from microparticles; nanostructuring, i.e. hot pressing from nanoparticles. By X-ray diffraction it is shown that sizes of structural elements in the fabricated samples are about 40 nm. The probe technique is used for measurement of electric conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. The stationary absolute method is used for measurement of thermal conductivity. Thermoelectric figure of merit is defined by measured values of kinetic coefficients in the temperatures range of 77 – 800 K. It was demonstrated, that electric conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and the power factor do not depend practically on a way of solid solution preparation. Thermal conductivity of samples pressed from nanoparticles has appeared to be higher, than of samples, obtained by direct fusion; i.e. in this case nanostructuring has not led to increase of thermoelectric figure of merit. The conclusion is drawn, that polycrystalline semiconductor Mg2Si0.3Sn0.7 can be used as a p-branch for a thermoelectric generator though nanostructuring has not led to the figure of

Solar thermoelectric generator

Science.gov (United States)

Toberer, Eric S.; Baranowski, Lauryn L.; Warren, Emily L.

2016-05-03

Solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) are solid state heat engines that generate electricity from concentrated sunlight. A novel detailed balance model for STEGs is provided and applied to both state-of-the-art and idealized materials. STEGs can produce electricity by using sunlight to heat one side of a thermoelectric generator. While concentrated sunlight can be used to achieve extremely high temperatures (and thus improved generator efficiency), the solar absorber also emits a significant amount of black body radiation. This emitted light is the dominant loss mechanism in these generators. In this invention, we propose a solution to this problem that eliminates virtually all of the emitted black body radiation. This enables solar thermoelectric generators to operate at higher efficiency and achieve said efficient with lower levels of optical concentration. The solution is suitable for both single and dual axis solar thermoelectric generators.

Development of a New Generation of High-Temperature Thermoelectric Unicouples for Space Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Caillat, Thierry; Gogna, P.; Sakamoto, J.; Jewell, A.; Cheng, J.; Blair, R.; Fleurial, J. -P.; Ewell, R.

2006-01-01

RTG's have enabled surface and deep space missions since 1961: a) 26 flight missions without any RTG failures; and b) Mission durations in excess of 25 years. Future NASA missions require RTG s with high specific power and high efficiency, while retaining long life (> 14 years) and high reliability, (i.e. 6-8 W/kg, 10-15% efficiency). JPL in partnership with NASA-GRC, NASA-MSFC, DOE, Universities and Industry is developing advanced thermoelectric materials and converters to meet future NASA needs.

Thermoelectric behavior of conducting polymers: On the possibility of off-diagonal thermoelectricity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mateeva, N; Niculescu, H; Schlenoff, J; Testardi, L

1997-07-01

Non-cubic materials, when structurally aligned, possess sufficient anisotropy to exhibit thermoelectric effects where the electrical and thermal currents are orthogonal (off-diagonal thermoelectricity). The authors discuss the benefits of this form of thermoelectricity for devices and describe a search for suitable properties in the air-stable conducting polymers polyaniline and polypyrrole. They find the simple and general correlation that the logarithm of the electrical conductivity scales linearly with the Seebeck coefficient on doping but with proportionality in excess of the conventional prediction for thermoelectricity. The correlation is unexpected in its universality and unfavorable for thermoelectric applications. A simple model suggests that mobile charges of both signs exist in these polymers, and this leads to reduced thermoelectric efficiency. They also briefly discuss non air-stable polyacetylene, where ambipolar transport does not appear to occur, and where properties seem more favorable for thermoelectricity.

Thermoelectric and mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 3} and Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 4}: Promising thermoelectric materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tyagi, Kriti; Gahtori, Bhasker; Bathula, Sivaiah; Toutam, Vijaykumar; Sharma, Sakshi; Singh, Niraj Kumar; Dhar, Ajay, E-mail: adhar@nplindia.org [CSIR-Network of Institutes for Solar Energy, Materials Physics and Engineering, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi 110012 (India)

2014-12-29

We report the synthesis of thermoelectric compounds, Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 3} and Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 4}, employing the conventional fusion method followed by spark plasma sintering. Their thermoelectric properties indicated that despite its higher thermal conductivity, Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 4} exhibited a much larger value of thermoelectric figure-of-merit as compared to Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 3}, which is primarily due to its higher electrical conductivity. The thermoelectric compatibility factor of Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 4} was found to be ∼1.2 as compared to 0.2 V{sup −1} for Cu{sub 3}SbSe{sub 3} at 550 K. The results of the mechanical properties of these two compounds indicated that their microhardness and fracture toughness values were far superior to the other competing state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials.

Thermoelectric properties of an interacting quantum dot based heat engine

Science.gov (United States)

Erdman, Paolo Andrea; Mazza, Francesco; Bosisio, Riccardo; Benenti, Giuliano; Fazio, Rosario; Taddei, Fabio

2017-06-01

We study the thermoelectric properties and heat-to-work conversion performance of an interacting, multilevel quantum dot (QD) weakly coupled to electronic reservoirs. We focus on the sequential tunneling regime. The dynamics of the charge in the QD is studied by means of master equations for the probabilities of occupation. From here we compute the charge and heat currents in the linear response regime. Assuming a generic multiterminal setup, and for low temperatures (quantum limit), we obtain analytical expressions for the transport coefficients which account for the interplay between interactions (charging energy) and level quantization. In the case of systems with two and three terminals we derive formulas for the power factor Q and the figure of merit Z T for a QD-based heat engine, identifying optimal working conditions which maximize output power and efficiency of heat-to-work conversion. Beyond the linear response we concentrate on the two-terminal setup. We first study the thermoelectric nonlinear coefficients assessing the consequences of large temperature and voltage biases, focusing on the breakdown of the Onsager reciprocal relation between thermopower and Peltier coefficient. We then investigate the conditions which optimize the performance of a heat engine, finding that in the quantum limit output power and efficiency at maximum power can almost be simultaneously maximized by choosing appropriate values of electrochemical potential and bias voltage. At last we study how energy level degeneracy can increase the output power.

Thermoelectric Properties of the XCoSb (X: Ti,Zr,Hf) Half-Heusler Alloys

KAUST Repository

Gandi, Appala

2017-09-18

We investigate the thermoelectric properties of the half-Heusler alloys XCoSb (X: Ti,Zr,Hf) by solving Boltzmann transport equations and discuss them in terms of the electronic band structure. The rigid band approximation is employed to address the effects of doping. While many half-Heuser alloys show excellent thermoelectric performance, the materials under study are special by supporting both n- and p-doping. We identify the reasons for this balanced thermoelectric transport and explain why experimentally p-doping is superior to n-doping. We also determine the spectrum of phonon mean free paths to guide grain refinement methods to enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit.

Designing of Bulk Nano-Structures with Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kanatzidis, Mercouri; Hogan, Timothy; Murray, Chris

2007-01-01

.... K2Bi8Se13 is a member of this series and was found to be a promising thermoelectric. The charge transport properties were studied under pressure, where a significant increase in the power factor was observed...

Designing of Bulk Nano-Structures With Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kanatzidis, Mercouri G

2007-01-01

.... K2Bi8Se13 is a member of this series and was found to be a promising thermoelectric. The charge transport properties were studied under pressure, where a significant increase in the power factor was observed...

Fine Art of Thermoelectricity.

Science.gov (United States)

Brus, Viktor V; Gluba, Marc; Rappich, Jörg; Lang, Felix; Maryanchuk, Pavlo D; Nickel, Norbert H

2018-02-07

A detailed study of hitherto unknown electrical and thermoelectric properties of graphite pencil traces on paper was carried out by measuring the Hall and Seebeck effects. We show that the combination of pencil-drawn graphite and brush-painted poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) films on regular office paper results in extremely simple, low-cost, and environmentally friendly thermoelectric power generators with promising output characteristics at low-temperature gradients. The working characteristics can be improved even further by incorporating n-type InSe flakes. The combination of pencil-drawn n-InSe:graphite nanocomposites and brush-painted PEDOT:PSS increases the power output by 1 order of magnitude.

Thermoelectric properties of IV–VI-based heterostructures and superlattices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borges, P.D., E-mail: pabloborges@ufv.br [Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Tec., Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Rio Paranaíba, MG (Brazil); Department of Physics, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666 (United States); Petersen, J.E.; Scolfaro, L. [Department of Physics, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666 (United States); Leite Alves, H.W. [Departamento de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Federal de São João Del Rei, Caixa Postal 110, São João Del Rei 36300-000, MG (Brazil); Myers, T.H. [Department of Physics, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666 (United States)

2015-07-15

Doping in a manner that introduces anisotropy in order to reduce thermal conductivity is a significant focus in thermoelectric research today. By solving the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equations in the constant scattering time (τ) approximation, in conjunction with ab initio electronic structure calculations, within Density Functional Theory, we compare the Seebeck coefficient (S) and figure of merit (ZT) of bulk PbTe to PbTe/SnTe/PbTe heterostructures and PbTe doping superlattices (SLs) with periodically doped planes. Bismuth and Thallium were used as the n- and p-type impurities, respectively. The effects of carrier concentration are considered via chemical potential variation in a rigid band approximation. The impurity bands near the Fermi level in the electronic structure of PbTe SLs are of Tl s- and Bi p-character, and this feature is independent of the doping concentration or the distance between impurity planes. We observe the impurity bands to have a metallic nature in the directions perpendicular to the doping planes, yet no improvement on the values of ZT is found when compared to bulk PbTe. For the PbTe/SnTe/PbTe heterostructures, the calculated S presents good agreement with recent experimental data, and an anisotropic behavior is observed for low carrier concentrations (n<10{sup 18} cm{sup −3}). A large value of ZT{sub ||} (parallel to the growth direction) of 3.0 is predicted for n=4.7×10{sup 18} cm{sup −3} and T=700 K, whereas ZT{sub p} (perpendicular to the growth direction) is found to peak at 1.5 for n=1.7×10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}. Both electrical conductivity enhancement and thermal conductivity reduction are analyzed. - Graphical abstract: Figure of merit for PbTe/SnTe/PbTe heterostructure along the [0 0 1] direction, P.D. Borges, J.E. Petersen, L. Scolfaro, H.W. Leite Alves, T.H. Myers, Improved thermoelectric properties of IV–VI-based heterostructures and superlattices. - Highlights: • Thermoelectric properties of IV�

Carbon-Nanotube-Based Thermoelectric Materials and Devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackburn, Jeffrey L; Ferguson, Andrew J; Cho, Chungyeon; Grunlan, Jaime C

2018-03-01

Conversion of waste heat to voltage has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a number of critical energy sectors, such as the transportation and electricity-generation sectors, and manufacturing processes. Thermal energy is also an abundant low-flux source that can be harnessed to power portable/wearable electronic devices and critical components in remote off-grid locations. As such, a number of different inorganic and organic materials are being explored for their potential in thermoelectric-energy-harvesting devices. Carbon-based thermoelectric materials are particularly attractive due to their use of nontoxic, abundant source-materials, their amenability to high-throughput solution-phase fabrication routes, and the high specific energy (i.e., W g -1 ) enabled by their low mass. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) represent a unique 1D carbon allotrope with structural, electrical, and thermal properties that enable efficient thermoelectric-energy conversion. Here, the progress made toward understanding the fundamental thermoelectric properties of SWCNTs, nanotube-based composites, and thermoelectric devices prepared from these materials is reviewed in detail. This progress illuminates the tremendous potential that carbon-nanotube-based materials and composites have for producing high-performance next-generation devices for thermoelectric-energy harvesting. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Effect of Synthesis Procedure on Thermoelectric Property of SiGe Alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jing; Han, Jun; Jiang, Tao; Luo, Lili; Xiang, Yongchun

2018-05-01

SiGe thermoelectric material has been synthesized by ball milling combined with hot pressing (HP) or spark plasma sintering (SPS). Effects of ball milling time, powder to ball weight ratio and sintering method on microstructure and thermoelectric properties of SiGe are studied. The results show that longer ball milling time leads to decreased density and worse electrical properties. In the sintering process, SPS results in much larger density and better electrical properties than HP. The Si0.795Ge0.2B0.005 sample prepared by 2 h ball milling combined with SPS obtains a maximum power factor of 3.0 mW m-1 K-2 at 860 K and ZT of 0.95 at 1000 K.

Optimization of Thermoelectric Components for Automobile Waste Heat Recovery Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sumeet; Heister, Stephen D.; Xu, Xianfan; Salvador, James R.

2015-10-01

For a typical spark ignition engine approximately 40% of available thermal energy is lost as hot exhaust gas. To improve fuel economy, researchers are currently evaluating technology which exploits exhaust stream thermal power by use of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) that operate on the basis of the Seebeck effect. A 5% improvement in fuel economy, achieved by use of TEG output power, is a stated objective for light-duty trucks and personal automobiles. System modeling of thermoelectric (TE) components requires solution of coupled thermal and electric fluxes through the n and p-type semiconductor legs, given appropriate thermal boundary conditions at the junctions. Such applications have large thermal gradients along the semiconductor legs, and material properties are highly dependent on spatially varying temperature profiles. In this work, one-dimensional heat flux and temperature variations across thermoelectric legs were solved by using an iterative numerical approach to optimize both TE module and TEG designs. Design traits were investigated by assuming use of skutterudite as a thermoelectric material with potential for automotive applications in which exhaust gas and heat exchanger temperatures typically vary from 100°C to over 600°C. Dependence of leg efficiency, thermal fluxes and electric power generation on leg geometry, fill fractions, electric current, thermal boundary conditions, etc., were studied in detail. Optimum leg geometries were computed for a variety of automotive exhaust conditions.

Compatibility of Segments of Thermoelectric Generators

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Ursell, Tristan

2009-01-01

A method of calculating (usually for the purpose of maximizing) the power-conversion efficiency of a segmented thermoelectric generator is based on equations derived from the fundamental equations of thermoelectricity. Because it is directly traceable to first principles, the method provides physical explanations in addition to predictions of phenomena involved in segmentation. In comparison with the finite-element method used heretofore to predict (without being able to explain) the behavior of a segmented thermoelectric generator, this method is much simpler to implement in practice: in particular, the efficiency of a segmented thermoelectric generator can be estimated by evaluating equations using only hand-held calculator with this method. In addition, the method provides for determination of cascading ratios. The concept of cascading is illustrated in the figure and the definition of the cascading ratio is defined in the figure caption. An important aspect of the method is its approach to the issue of compatibility among segments, in combination with introduction of the concept of compatibility within a segment. Prior approaches involved the use of only averaged material properties. Two materials in direct contact could be examined for compatibility with each other, but there was no general framework for analysis of compatibility. The present method establishes such a framework. The mathematical derivation of the method begins with the definition of reduced efficiency of a thermoelectric generator as the ratio between (1) its thermal-to-electric power-conversion efficiency and (2) its Carnot efficiency (the maximum efficiency theoretically attainable, given its hot- and cold-side temperatures). The derivation involves calculation of the reduced efficiency of a model thermoelectric generator for which the hot-side temperature is only infinitesimally greater than the cold-side temperature. The derivation includes consideration of the ratio (u) between the

High temperature hall effect measurement system design, measurement and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Berkun, Isil

A reliable knowledge of the transport properties of semiconductor materials is essential for the development and understanding of a number of electronic devices. In this thesis, the work on developing a Hall Effect measurement system with software based data acqui- sition and control for a temperature range of 300K-700K will be described. A system was developed for high temperature measurements of materials including single crystal diamond, poly-crystalline diamond, and thermoelectric compounds. An added capability for monitor- ing the current versus voltage behavior of the contacts was used for studying the influence of ohmic and non-ohmic contacts on Hall Effect measurements. The system has been primar- ily used for testing the transport properties of boron-doped single crystal diamond (SCD) deposited in a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) reactor [1]. Diamond has several outstanding properties that are of high interest for its development as an electronic material. These include a relatively wide band gap of 5.5 (eV), high thermal conductivity, high mobility, high saturation velocity, and a high breakdown voltage. For a temperature range of 300K-700K, IV curves, Hall mobilities and carrier concentrations are shown. Temperature dependent Hall effect measurements have shown carrier concentrations from below 1017cm --3 to approximately 1021 cm--3 with mobilities ranging from 763( cm2/V s) to 0.15(cm 2/V s) respectively. Simulation results have shown the effects of single and mixed carrier models, activation energies, effective mass and doping concentrations. These studies have been helpful in the development of single crystal diamond for diode applications. Reference materials of Ge and GaAs were used to test the Hall Effect system. The system was also used to characterize polycrystalline diamond deposited on glass for electrochemical applications, and Mg2(Si,Sn) compounds which are promising candidates of low-cost, light weight and non

Nanostructured silicon for thermoelectric

Science.gov (United States)

Stranz, A.; Kähler, J.; Waag, A.; Peiner, E.

2011-06-01

Thermoelectric modules convert thermal energy into electrical energy and vice versa. At present bismuth telluride is the most widely commercial used material for thermoelectric energy conversion. There are many applications where bismuth telluride modules are installed, mainly for refrigeration. However, bismuth telluride as material for energy generation in large scale has some disadvantages. Its availability is limited, it is hot stable at higher temperatures (>250°C) and manufacturing cost is relatively high. An alternative material for energy conversion in the future could be silicon. The technological processing of silicon is well advanced due to the rapid development of microelectronics in recent years. Silicon is largely available and environmentally friendly. The operating temperature of silicon thermoelectric generators can be much higher than of bismuth telluride. Today silicon is rarely used as a thermoelectric material because of its high thermal conductivity. In order to use silicon as an efficient thermoelectric material, it is necessary to reduce its thermal conductivity, while maintaining high electrical conductivity and high Seebeck coefficient. This can be done by nanostructuring into arrays of pillars. Fabrication of silicon pillars using ICP-cryogenic dry etching (Inductive Coupled Plasma) will be described. Their uniform height of the pillars allows simultaneous connecting of all pillars of an array. The pillars have diameters down to 180 nm and their height was selected between 1 micron and 10 microns. Measurement of electrical resistance of single silicon pillars will be presented which is done in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with nanomanipulators. Furthermore, measurement of thermal conductivity of single pillars with different diameters using the 3ω method will be shown.

Numerical analysis of the performance prediction for a thermoelectric generator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Chang Nyung [Kyung Hee University, Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

2015-09-15

The present study develops a two-dimensional numerical code that can predict the performance of a thermoelectric generator module including a p-leg/n-leg pair and top and bottom electrodes. The present code can simulate the detailed thermoelectric phenomena including the heat flow, electric current, Joule heating, Peltier heating, and Thomson heating, together with the efficiency of the modules whose properties depend on the temperature. The present numerical code can be used for the design optimization of a thermoelectric power generator.

Convergence of valence bands for high thermoelectric performance for p-type InN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Hai-Zhu; Li, Ruo-Ping; Liu, Jun-Hui; Huang, Ming-Ju

2015-01-01

Band engineering to converge the bands to achieve high valley degeneracy is one of effective approaches for designing ideal thermoelectric materials. Convergence of many valleys in the valence band may lead to a high Seebeck coefficient, and induce promising thermoelectric performance of p-type InN. In the current work, we have systematically investigated the electronic structure and thermoelectric performance of wurtzite InN by using the density functional theory combined with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. Form the results, it can be found that intrinsic InN has a large Seebeck coefficient (254 μV/K) and the largest value of Z e T is 0.77. The transport properties of p-type InN are better than that of n-type one at the optimum carrier concentration, which mainly due to the large Seebeck coefficient for p-type InN, although the electrical conductivity of n-type InN is larger than that of p-type one. We found that the larger Seebeck coefficient for p-type InN may originate from the large valley degeneracy in the valence band. Moreover, the low minimum lattice thermal conductivity for InN is one key factor to become a good thermoelectric material. Therefore, p-type InN could be a potential material for further applications in the thermoelectric area.

Prospective high thermoelectric performance of the heavily p-doped half-Heusler compound CoVSn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Hongliang; Ming, Wenmei; Parker, David S.; Du, Mao-Hua; Singh, David J.

2017-01-01

The electronic structure and transport properties of the half-Heusler compound CoVSn are studied in this paper systematically by combining first-principles electronic structure calculations and Boltzmann transport theory. The band structure at the valence-band edge is complex with multiple maxima derived from hybridized transition element d states. The result is a calculated thermopower larger than 200 μV /Κ within a wide range of doping concentrations and temperatures for heavily doped p-type CoVSn. The thermoelectric properties additionally benefit from the corrugated shapes of the hole pockets in our calculated isoenergy surfaces. Our calculated power factor S"2σ/τ (with respect to an average unknown scattering time) of CoVSn is comparable to that of FeNbSb. A smaller lattice thermal conductivity can be expected from the smaller group velocities of acoustical modes compared to FeNbSb. Finally, overall, good thermoelectric performance for CoVSn can be expected by considering the electronic transport and lattice thermal conductivity.

Effects of Li and Na intercalation on electronic, bonding and thermoelectric transport properties of MX{sub 2} (M = Ta; X = S or Se) dichalcogenides – Ab initio investigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meziane, Souheyr; Feraoun, Houda [Unité de Recherche Matériaux et Energies Renouvelables – URMER, Université de Tlemcen (Algeria); Ouahrani, Tarik [Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, Ecole Préparatoire en Sciences et Techniques, B.P. 230, 13000 Tlemcen (Algeria); Esling, Claude, E-mail: claude.esling@univ-lorraine.fr [Laboratoire d’Etude des Microstructures et de Mécanique des Matériaux, LEM3 UMR CNRS 7239, Université de Lorraine UL, Metz 57045 (France); Laboratoire d’Excellence “DAMAS”: Design of Metal Alloys for low-mAss Structures, Université de Lorraine – Metz, Ile du Saulcy, 57045 Metz Cedex 01 (France)

2013-12-25

Highlights: •Topological method is used to analyze the chemical bonding in Li(Na)TaX{sub 2} dichalcogenide compounds. •For the first time, Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity were estimated. •The best figure of merit is established for 2H-LiTaS{sub 2}. •Some new thermoelectric compounds are found. -- Abstract: Using the pseudo-potential method and semi-classical Boltzmann theory, electronic, chemical bonding and thermoelectric transport properties of sample and Li or Na intercalated Ta(S, Se){sub 2} dichalcogenides have been reported. The chemical bonding is studied using the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM). Then, the Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and figure of merit have been calculated in the temperature range 100–700 K. It was shown that the thermoelectric transport properties strongly depend on the Alkali metals doping and the two main structures 1T- or 2H- as well as the temperature. 2H-LiTaS{sub 2} have been selected as the best candidate for thermoelectrical applications with zT = 1.1.

High Thermoelectric Performance by Convergence of Bands in IV-VI Semiconductors, Heavily Doped PbTe, and Alloys/Nanocomposites

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, G. Jeffrey (Inventor); Pei, Yanzhong (Inventor)

2015-01-01

The present invention teaches an effective mechanism for enhancing thermoelectric performance through additional conductive bands. Using heavily doped p-PbTe materials as an example, a quantitative explanation is disclosed, as to why and how these additional bands affect the figure of merit. A high zT of approaching 2 at high temperatures makes these simple, likely more stable (than nanostructured materials) and Tl-free materials excellent for thermoelectric applications.

High-performance nanostructured thermoelectric generators for micro combined heat and power systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yanliang; Wang, Xiaowei; Cleary, Martin; Schoensee, Luke; Kempf, Nicholas; Richardson, Joseph

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A TEG is fabricated using high-efficiency nanostructured thermoelectric materials. • The TEG produces high power density of 2.1 W/cm"2 with 5.3% electrical efficiency. • A micro-CHP system is demonstrated by integrating the TEG into a gas-fired boiler. - Graphical Abstract: - Abstract: Micro combined heat and power (micro-CHP) systems are promising pathways to increase power generation efficiencies. Here a new class of micro-CHP system without moving parts is experimentally demonstrated by integrating high-temperature thermoelectric generators (TEGs) and residential gas-fired boilers, thus enabling wide applications. The TEGs fabricated using high-efficiency nanostructured bulk half-Heusler alloys generate ultrahigh power density of 2.1 W/cm"2 with 5.3% electrical efficiency under 500 °C temperature differences between the hot and cold sides. The TEG system harnesses the untapped exergy between the combustion gas and water, and converts thermal energy into electric power with 4% heat-to-electricity efficiency based on the total heat input into the TEGs. The high-performance TEGs open lots of opportunities to transform power generation technologies and improve energy efficiency.

Effective thermal conductivity in thermoelectric materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baranowski, LL; Snyder, GJ; Toberer, ES

2013-05-28

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are solid state heat engines that generate electricity from a temperature gradient. Optimizing these devices for maximum power production can be difficult due to the many heat transport mechanisms occurring simultaneously within the TEG. In this paper, we develop a model for heat transport in thermoelectric materials in which an "effective thermal conductivity" (kappa(eff)) encompasses both the one dimensional steady-state Fourier conduction and the heat generation/consumption due to secondary thermoelectric effects. This model is especially powerful in that the value of kappa(eff) does not depend upon the operating conditions of the TEG but rather on the transport properties of the TE materials themselves. We analyze a variety of thermoelectric materials and generator designs using this concept and demonstrate that kappa(eff) predicts the heat fluxes within these devices to 5% of the exact value. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

Thermoelectric properties and microstructure of Mg3Sb2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Condron, Cathie L.; Kauzlarich, Susan M.; Gascoin, Franck; Snyder, G. Jeffrey

2006-01-01

Mg 3 Sb 2 has been prepared by direct reaction of the elements. Powder X-ray diffraction, thermal gravimetric, differential scanning calorimetery, and microprobe data were obtained on hot pressed samples. Single phase samples of Mg 3 Sb 2 were prepared and found to contain oxygen at the grain boundaries and to lose Mg and oxidize at temperatures above 900 K. Thermoelectric properties were characterized by Seebeck, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity measurements from 300 to 1023 K, and the maximum zT was found to be 0.21 at ∼875 K. - Graphical abstract: Dimensionless figure of merit for Mg 3 Sb 2 hot pressed and sintered at 873 K. The inset illustrates the crystal structure of Mg 3 Sb 2 along the [100] direction (white=Mg, black=Sb)

Thermal conductivity anisotropy in holey silicon nanostructures and its impact on thermoelectric cooling

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Zongqing; Lee, Jaeho

2018-01-01

Artificial nanostructures have improved prospects of thermoelectric systems by enabling selective scattering of phonons and demonstrating significant thermal conductivity reductions. While the low thermal conductivity provides necessary temperature gradients for thermoelectric conversion, the heat generation is detrimental to electronic systems where high thermal conductivity are preferred. The contrasting needs of thermal conductivity are evident in thermoelectric cooling systems, which call for a fundamental breakthrough. Here we show a silicon nanostructure with vertically etched holes, or holey silicon, uniquely combines the low thermal conductivity in the in-plane direction and the high thermal conductivity in the cross-plane direction, and that the anisotropy is ideal for lateral thermoelectric cooling. The low in-plane thermal conductivity due to substantial phonon boundary scattering in small necks sustains large temperature gradients for lateral Peltier junctions. The high cross-plane thermal conductivity due to persistent long-wavelength phonons effectively dissipates heat from a hot spot to the on-chip cooling system. Our scaling analysis based on spectral phonon properties captures the anisotropic size effects in holey silicon and predicts the thermal conductivity anisotropy ratio up to 20. Our numerical simulations demonstrate the thermoelectric cooling effectiveness of holey silicon is at least 30% greater than that of high-thermal-conductivity bulk silicon and 400% greater than that of low-thermal-conductivity chalcogenides; these results contrast with the conventional perception preferring either high or low thermal conductivity materials. The thermal conductivity anisotropy is even more favorable in laterally confined systems and will provide effective thermal management solutions for advanced electronics.

Thermal conductivity anisotropy in holey silicon nanostructures and its impact on thermoelectric cooling.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Zongqing; Lee, Jaeho

2018-01-26

Artificial nanostructures have improved prospects of thermoelectric systems by enabling selective scattering of phonons and demonstrating significant thermal conductivity reductions. While the low thermal conductivity provides necessary temperature gradients for thermoelectric conversion, the heat generation is detrimental to electronic systems where high thermal conductivity are preferred. The contrasting needs of thermal conductivity are evident in thermoelectric cooling systems, which call for a fundamental breakthrough. Here we show a silicon nanostructure with vertically etched holes, or holey silicon, uniquely combines the low thermal conductivity in the in-plane direction and the high thermal conductivity in the cross-plane direction, and that the anisotropy is ideal for lateral thermoelectric cooling. The low in-plane thermal conductivity due to substantial phonon boundary scattering in small necks sustains large temperature gradients for lateral Peltier junctions. The high cross-plane thermal conductivity due to persistent long-wavelength phonons effectively dissipates heat from a hot spot to the on-chip cooling system. Our scaling analysis based on spectral phonon properties captures the anisotropic size effects in holey silicon and predicts the thermal conductivity anisotropy ratio up to 20. Our numerical simulations demonstrate the thermoelectric cooling effectiveness of holey silicon is at least 30% greater than that of high-thermal-conductivity bulk silicon and 400% greater than that of low-thermal-conductivity chalcogenides; these results contrast with the conventional perception preferring either high or low thermal conductivity materials. The thermal conductivity anisotropy is even more favorable in laterally confined systems and will provide effective thermal management solutions for advanced electronics.

Thermal and stress analyses in thermoelectric generator with tapered and rectangular pin configurations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yilbas, Bekir Sami; Akhtar, S.S.; Sahin, A.Z.

2016-01-01

Thermal stress developed in thermoelectric generators is critical for long service applications. High temperature gradients, due to a large temperature difference across the junctions, causes excessive stress levels developed in the device pins and electrodes at the interfaces. In the present study, a thermoelectric generator with horizontal pin configuration is considered and thermal stress analysis in the device is presented. Ceramic wafer is considered to resemble the high temperature plate and copper electrodes are introduced at the pin junctions to reduce the electrical resistance between the pins and the high and low temperature junction plates during the operation. Finite element code is used to simulate temperature and stress fields in the thermoelectric generator. In the simulations, convection and radiation losses from the thermoelectric pins are considered and bismuth telluride pin material with and without tapering is incorporated. It is found that von Mises stress attains high values at the interface between the hot and cold junctions and the copper electrodes. Thermal stress developed in tapered pin configuration attains lower values than that of rectangular pin cross-section. - Highlights: • Different cold junction temperatures improves thermoelectric generator performance. • von Mises stress remains high across copper electrodes and hot junction ceramics. • von Mises stress reduces along pin length towards cold junction. • Pin tapering lowers stress levels in thermoelectric generator.

Optimized Characterization of Thermoelectric Generators for Automotive Application

Science.gov (United States)

Tatarinov, Dimitri; Wallig, Daniel; Bastian, Georg

2012-06-01

New developments in the field of thermoelectric materials bring the prospect of consumer devices for recovery of some of the waste heat from internal combustion engines closer to reality. Efficiency improvements are expected due to the development of high-temperature thermoelectric generators (TEG). In contrast to already established radioisotope thermoelectric generators, the temperature difference in automotive systems is not constant, and this imposes a set of specific requirements on the TEG system components. In particular, the behavior of the TEGs and interface materials used to link the heat flow from the heat source through the TEG to the heat sink must be examined. Due to the usage patterns of automobiles, the TEG will be subject to cyclic thermal loads, which leads to module degradation. Additionally, the automotive TEG will be exposed to an inhomogeneous temperature distribution, leading to inhomogeneous mechanical loads and reduced system efficiency. Therefore, a characterization rig is required to allow determination of the electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of such high-temperature TEG systems. This paper describes a measurement setup using controlled adjustment of cold-side and warm-side temperatures as well as controlled feed-in of electrical power for evaluation of TEGs for application in vehicles with combustion engines. The temperature profile in the setup can be varied to simulate any vehicle usage pattern, such as the European standard driving cycle, allowing the power yield of the TEGs to be evaluated for the chosen cycle. The spatially resolved temperature distribution of a TEG system can be examined by thermal imaging. Hotspots or cracks on thermocouples of the TEGs and the thermal resistance of thermal interface materials can also be examined using this technology. The construction of the setup is briefly explained, followed by detailed discussion of the experimental results.

Simultaneous control of thermoelectric properties in p- and n-type materials by electric double-layer gating: New design for thermoelectric device

Science.gov (United States)

Takayanagi, Ryohei; Fujii, Takenori; Asamitsu, Atsushi

2015-05-01

We report a novel design of a thermoelectric device that can control the thermoelectric properties of p- and n-type materials simultaneously by electric double-layer gating. Here, p-type Cu2O and n-type ZnO were used as the positive and negative electrodes of the electric double-layer capacitor structure. When a gate voltage was applied between the two electrodes, holes and electrons accumulated on the surfaces of Cu2O and ZnO, respectively. The thermopower was measured by applying a thermal gradient along the accumulated layer on the electrodes. We demonstrate here that the accumulated layers worked as a p-n pair of the thermoelectric device.

Effect of preparation procedure and nanostructuring on the thermoelectric properties of the lead telluride-based material system AgPb{sub m}BiTe{sub 2+m} (BLST-m)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Falkenbach, Oliver; Koch, Guenter; Schlecht, Sabine [Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Justus-Liebig-University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17, D-35392 Giessen (Germany); Schmitz, Andreas [Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), D-51170 Cologne (Germany); Hartung, David; Klar, Peter J. [Institute of Experimental Physics I, Justus-Liebig-University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 16, D-35392 Giessen (Germany); Dankwort, Torben; Kienle, Lorenz [Institute for Material Science, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kaiserstrasse 2, D-24143 Kiel (Germany); Mueller, Eckhard, E-mail: Eckhard.Mueller@dlr.de [Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Justus-Liebig-University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17, D-35392 Giessen (Germany); Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), D-51170 Cologne (Germany)

2016-06-07

We report on the preparation and thermoelectric properties of the quaternary system AgPb{sub m}BiTe{sub 2+m} (Bismuth-Lead-Silver-Tellurium, BLST-m) that were nanostructured by mechanical alloying. Nanopowders of various compositions were compacted by three different methods: cold pressing/annealing, hot pressing, and short term sintering. The products are compared with respect to microstructure and sample density. The thermoelectric properties were measured: thermal conductivity in the temperature range from 300 K to 800 K and electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient between 100 K and 800 K. The compacting method and the composition had a substantial impact on carrier concentration and mobility as well as on the thermoelectric parameters. Room temperature Hall measurements yielded carrier concentrations in the order of 10{sup 19 }cm{sup −3}, slightly increasing with increasing content of the additive silver bismuth telluride to the lead telluride base. ZT values close to the ones of bulk samples were achieved. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed macroscopically homogeneous distributions of the constituting elements inside the nanopowders ensembles, indicating a solid solution. However, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed disorder on the nanoscale inside individual nanopowders grains.

Ab initio optimization of phonon drag effect for lower-temperature thermoelectric energy conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Jiawei; Liao, Bolin; Qiu, Bo; Huberman, Samuel; Esfarjani, Keivan; Dresselhaus, Mildred S.; Chen, Gang

2015-01-01

Although the thermoelectric figure of merit zT above 300 K has seen significant improvement recently, the progress at lower temperatures has been slow, mainly limited by the relatively low Seebeck coefficient and high thermal conductivity. Here we report, for the first time to our knowledge, success in first-principles computation of the phonon drag effect—a coupling phenomenon between electrons and nonequilibrium phonons—in heavily doped region and its optimization to enhance the Seebeck coefficient while reducing the phonon thermal conductivity by nanostructuring. Our simulation quantitatively identifies the major phonons contributing to the phonon drag, which are spectrally distinct from those carrying heat, and further reveals that although the phonon drag is reduced in heavily doped samples, a significant contribution to Seebeck coefficient still exists. An ideal phonon filter is proposed to enhance zT of silicon at room temperature by a factor of 20 to ∼0.25, and the enhancement can reach 70 times at 100 K. This work opens up a new venue toward better thermoelectrics by harnessing nonequilibrium phonons. PMID:26627231

Modelling of thermoelectric materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerg, Lasse

In order to discover new good thermoelectric materials, there are essentially two ways. One way is to go to the laboratory, synthesise a new material, and measure the thermoelectric properties. The amount of compounds, which can be investigated this way is limited because the process is time...... consuming. Another approach is to model the thermoelectric properties of a material on a computer. Several crystal structures can be investigated this way without use of much man power. I have chosen the latter approach. Using density functional theory I am able to calculate the band structure of a material....... This band structure I can then use to calculate the thermoelectric properties of the material. With these results I have investigated several materials and found the optimum theoretical doping concentration. If materials with these doping concentrations be synthesised, considerably better thermoelectric...

Large-scale synthesis of lead telluride (PbTe) nanotube-based nanocomposites with tunable morphology, crystallinity and thermoelectric properties

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Kee-Ryung; Cho, Hong-Baek; Song, Yoseb; Kim, Seil; Kwon, Young-Tae; Ryu, Seung Han; Lim, Jae-Hong; Lee, Woo-Jin; Choa, Yong-Ho

2018-04-01

A few millimeter-long lead telluride (PbTe) hollow nanofibers with thermoelectric properties was synthesized for the first time with high through manner via three-step sequential process of electrospinning, electrodeposition and cationic exchange reaction. As-synthesized electrospun Ag nanofibers with ultra-long aspect ratio of 10,000 were Te electrodeposited to obtain silver telluride nanotubes and underwent cationic exchange reaction in Pb(NO3)2 solution to obtain polycrystalline PbTe nanotubes with average diameter of 100 nm with 20 nm of wall thickness. Variation of the Ag-to-Pb ratio in the AgxTey-PbTe nanocomposites during the cationic exchange reaction enabled to control the thermoelectric properties of resulting 1D hollow nanofibers. The diameter of Ag nanofiber is the key factor to determine the final dimension of the PbTe nanotubes in the topotactic transformation and the content of Ag ion leads to the enhancement of thermoelectric properties in the AgxTey-PbTe nanocomposites. The synthesized 1D nanocomposite mats showed the highest value of Seebeck coefficient of 433 μV/K (at 300 K) when the remained Ag content was 30%, while the power factor reached highest to 0.567 μW/mK2 for the pure PbTe nanotubes. The enhancement of thermoelectric properties and the composite crystallinity are elucidated with relation to Ag contents in the resulting 1D nanocomposites.

Combustion synthesis: A new approach for preparation of thermoelectric zinc antimonide compounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rouessac, F., E-mail: Florence.Rouessac@univ-montp2.fr [Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, UMR 5253 CNRS-UM2-ENSCM-UM1, C2M Universite Montpellier 2, CC 1504 Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5 (France); Ayral, R.-M. [Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, UMR 5253 CNRS-UM2-ENSCM-UM1, C2M Universite Montpellier 2, CC 1504 Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5 (France)

2012-07-25

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Reliable preparation method of thermoelectric materials. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Formation of zinc antimonide by the combustion synthesis method is investigated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer XRD and Raman spectroscopy as a function of temperature. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer SHS: a new way for synthesizing thermoelectric materials. - Abstract: Due to the interesting properties of Zn{sub 4}Sb{sub 3} thermoelectric material, a reliable preparation method of this material is required. In this study, the formation of zinc antimonides by the combustion synthesis method is investigated and subjected to characterization using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy as a function of temperature. The results show that combustion synthesis can be a new way for synthesizing these thermoelectric materials.

High Power Density, Lightweight Thermoelectric Metamaterials for Energy Harvesting

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Thermoelectric energy harvesting utilizes materials that generate an electrical current when subjected to a temperature gradient, or simply, a hot and cold source of...

General Approach for Composite Thermoelectric Systems with Thermal Coupling: The Case of a Dual Thermoelectric Cooler

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cuautli Yanehowi Flores-Niño

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In this work, we show a general approach for inhomogeneous composite thermoelectric systems, and as an illustrative case, we consider a dual thermoelectric cooler. This composite cooler consists of two thermoelectric modules (TEMs connected thermally in parallel and electrically in series. Each TEM has different thermoelectric (TE properties, namely thermal conductance, electrical resistance and the Seebeck coefficient. The system is coupled by thermal conductances to heat reservoirs. The proposed approach consists of derivation of the dimensionless thermoelectric properties for the whole system. Thus, we obtain an equivalent figure of merit whose impact and meaning is discussed. We make use of dimensionless equations to study the impact of the thermal conductance matching on the cooling capacity and the coefficient of the performance of the system. The equivalent thermoelectric properties derived with our formalism include the external conductances and all intrinsic thermoelectric properties of each component of the system. Our proposed approach permits us changing the thermoelectric parameters of the TEMs and the working conditions of the composite system. Furthermore, our analysis shows the effect of the number of thermocouples on the system. These considerations are very useful for the design of thermoelectric composite systems. We reproduce the qualitative behavior of a commercial composite TEM connected electrically in series.

Thinking Like a Chemist: Intuition in Thermoelectric Materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeier, Wolfgang G; Zevalkink, Alex; Gibbs, Zachary M; Hautier, Geoffroy; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G; Snyder, G Jeffrey

2016-06-06

The coupled transport properties required to create an efficient thermoelectric material necessitates a thorough understanding of the relationship between the chemistry and physics in a solid. We approach thermoelectric material design using the chemical intuition provided by molecular orbital diagrams, tight binding theory, and a classic understanding of bond strength. Concepts such as electronegativity, band width, orbital overlap, bond energy, and bond length are used to explain trends in electronic properties such as the magnitude and temperature dependence of band gap, carrier effective mass, and band degeneracy and convergence. The lattice thermal conductivity is discussed in relation to the crystal structure and bond strength, with emphasis on the importance of bond length. We provide an overview of how symmetry and bonding strength affect electron and phonon transport in solids, and how altering these properties may be used in strategies to improve thermoelectric performance. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A novel self-powered wireless temperature sensor based on thermoelectric generators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Yongming; Wang, Yao; Deng, Yuan; Gao, Hongli; Lin, Zhen; Zhu, Wei; Ye, Huihong

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A self-powered temperature sensor, based on thermoelectric generator, is presented. • This novel sensor can operate without any batteries or other power sources. • This sensor combines signal sensing and power supplying together. • The measurement error is 0.5 K during the sensor operating period. • This sensor can detect temperature fluctuation situations such as fire disaster. - Abstract: A novel self-powered wireless temperature sensor has been designed and presented for solving the power supply problem of temperature sensors. This sensor can autonomously measure temperature under positive temperature fluctuation situations. The self-powered characteristic, realized by using four thermoelectric generators, enables the sensor to operate without any batteries or other power sources. In order to obtain these features, attentions are not only focused on the method to combine signal sensing and power generating together, but also on the method to improve measurement accuracy. Experimental results confirm that this novel sensor has excellent measurement accuracy. The measured performance is consistent with the calculated characteristics. For typical application, this self-powered temperature sensor can detect fire before it develops to flashover state. And the maximum detection distance grows with the growth of burning rate. All the results indicate this innovative sensor is a promising self-powered device which can be used to measure temperature value in positive temperature fluctuation situations

Effects of ball milling on microstructures and thermoelectric properties of higher manganese silicides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xi; Shi, Li; Zhou, Jianshi; Goodenough, John B.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The already low κ L of HMS can be suppressed further by decreasing the grain size. • The ball milling process can lead to the formation of secondary MnSi and W/C-rich phases. • The formation of the MnSi ad W/C rich phases is found to suppress the thermoelectric power factor. - Abstract: Bulk nanostructured higher manganese silicide (HMS) samples with different grain size are prepared by melting, subsequent ball milling (BM), and followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effects of BM time on the microstructures and thermoelectric properties of these samples are investigated. It is found that BM effectively reduces the grain size to about 90 nm in the sample after SPS, which leads to a decrease in both the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity. By prolonging the BM time, MnSi and tungsten/carbon-rich impurity phases are formed due to the impact-induced decomposition of HMS and contamination from the tungsten carbide jar and balls during the BM, respectively. These impurities result in a reduced Seebeck coefficient and increased thermal conductivity above room temperature. The measured size-dependent lattice thermal conductivities agree qualitatively with the reported calculation results based on a combined phonon and diffuson model. The size effects are found to be increasingly significant as temperature decreases. Because of the formation of the impurity phases and a relatively large grain size, the ZT values are not improved in the ball-milled HMS samples. These findings suggest the need of alternative approaches for the synthesis of pure HMS with further reduced grain size and controlled impurity doping in order to enhance the thermoelectric figure-of-merit of HMS via nanostructuring

Microstructure and thermoelectric properties of screen-printed thick-films of misfit-layered cobalt oxides with Ag addition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Nong, Ngo; Samson, Alfred Junio; Pryds, Nini

2012-01-01

Thermoelectric properties of thick (~60 μm) films prepared by a screen-printing technique using p-type misfit-layered cobalt oxide Ca3Co4O9+δ with Ag addition have been studied. The screen-printed films were sintered in air at various temperatures ranging from 973 K to 1223 K. After each sintering...... process, crystal and microstructure analyses were carried out to determine the optimal sintering condition. The results show that the thermoelectric properties of pure Ca3Co4O9+δ thick film are comparable to those of cold isostatic pressing (CIP) samples. We found that the maximum power factor...... was improved by about 67% (to 0.3 mW/m K2) for film with proper silver (Ag) metallic inclusions as compared with 0.18 mW/m K2 for pure Ca3Co4O9+δ film under the same sintering condition of 1223 K for 2 h in air....

Electroforming of Bi(1-x)Sb(x) nanowires for high-efficiency micro-thermoelectric cooling devices on a chip.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Overmyer, Donald L.; Webb, Edmund Blackburn, III (,; ); Siegal, Michael P.; Yelton, William Graham

2006-11-01

Active cooling of electronic systems for space-based and terrestrial National Security missions has demanded use of Stirling, reverse-Brayton, closed Joule-Thompson, pulse tube and more elaborate refrigeration cycles. Such cryocoolers are large systems that are expensive, demand large powers, often contain moving parts and are difficult to integrate with electronic systems. On-chip, solid-state, active cooling would greatly enhance the capabilities of future systems by reducing the size, cost and inefficiencies compared to existing solutions. We proposed to develop the technology for a thermoelectric cooler capable of reaching 77K by replacing bulk thermoelectric materials with arrays of Bi{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} nanowires. Furthermore, the Sandia-developed technique we will use to produce the oriented nanowires occurs at room temperature and can be applied directly to a silicon substrate. Key obstacles include (1) optimizing the Bi{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} alloy composition for thermoelectric properties; (2) increasing wire aspect ratios to 3000:1; and (3) increasing the array density to {ge} 10{sup 9} wires/cm{sup 2}. The primary objective of this LDRD was to fabricate and test the thermoelectric properties of arrays of Bi{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} nanowires. With this proof-of-concept data under our belts we are positioned to engage National Security systems customers to invest in the integration of on-chip thermoelectric coolers for future missions.

Recent Progress on PEDOT-Based Thermoelectric Materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Qingshuo; Mukaida, Masakazu; Kirihara, Kazuhiro; Naitoh, Yasuhisa; Ishida, Takao

2015-02-16

The thermoelectric properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based materials have attracted attention recently because of their remarkable electrical conductivity, power factor, and figure of merit. In this review, we summarize recent efforts toward improving the thermoelectric properties of PEDOT-based materials. We also discuss thermoelectric measurement techniques and several unsolved problems with the PEDOT system such as the effect of water absorption from the air and the anisotropic thermoelectric properties. In the last part, we describe our work on improving the power output of thermoelectric modules by using PEDOT, and we outline the potential applications of polymer thermoelectric generators.

Theoretical investigation on thermoelectric properties of (Ca,Sr,Ba)Fe2(As/Bi)2 compounds under temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Jayalakshmi, D. S.; Sundareswari, M.; Viswanathan, E.; Das, Abhijeet

2018-04-01

The electrical conductivity, resistivity and Seebeck coefficient, Pauli magnetic susceptibility and power factor are computed under temperature (100 K - 800 K) in steps of 100 K for the theoretically designed compounds namely (Ca,Sr,Ba)Fe2Bi2 and their parent compounds namely (Ca,Sr,Ba)Fe2As2 by using Boltzmann transport theory interfaced to the Wien2k program. The Bulk modulus, electron phonon coupling constant, thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) and transition temperature are calculated for the optimized anti ferromagnetic phase of the proposed compounds. The results are discussed for the novel compounds in view of their superconductivity existence and compared with their parent unconventional superconducting compounds.

New thinking on modeling of thermoelectric devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, T.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • New model was developed for performance calculation of thermoelectric devices. • The model takes into account the temperature-dependent material properties. • It takes into account the spatial-dependent heat flow rate in thermoelement. • It can take into account the heat and electricity losses at the junctions. • It can probe a broad range of parameters for module performance optimization. - Abstract: The performance of a thermoelectric power generation (TEPG) module and a device designed to convert engine exhaust heat directly into electricity was studied under different operating conditions using a proposed thermoelectric (TE) model in this work. The proposed model was obtained from the first law of thermodynamics, Ohm’s law, nonlinear analytical solution of thermoelectric transport equation, and a control volume that represents a typical TEPG module or device such that the temperature-dependent material properties of, the spatial-dependent heat flow rate through the TE element, and the interfacial electrical and thermal losses can be taken into account in the performance calculation. The performance of a typical TEPG module under a broad range of cold-side temperatures and the temperature differences between its hot-side and cold-side was calculated by the proposed model and the results agree very well with the existing model predictions. Comparison between the model predictions and the experimental results confirmed that reducing the interfacial electric resistance can enhance the module performance. The inter-dependence of the key thermal and TEPG system design and optimization parameters was examined for a real TEPG device using the proposed model and an optimal module fill factor of 0.35 was found within the given mass flow rates between 0.0154 and 0.052 kg/s of exhaust stream.

System to Measure Thermal Conductivity and Seebeck Coefficient for Thermoelectrics

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyun-Jung; Skuza, Jonathan R.; Park, Yeonjoon; King, Glen C.; Choi, Sang H.; Nagavalli, Anita

2012-01-01

The Seebeck coefficient, when combined with thermal and electrical conductivity, is an essential property measurement for evaluating the potential performance of novel thermoelectric materials. However, there is some question as to which measurement technique(s) provides the most accurate determination of the Seebeck coefficient at elevated temperatures. This has led to the implementation of nonstandardized practices that have further complicated the confirmation of reported high ZT materials. The major objective of the procedure described is for the simultaneous measurement of the Seebeck coefficient and thermal diffusivity within a given temperature range. These thermoelectric measurements must be precise, accurate, and reproducible to ensure meaningful interlaboratory comparison of data. The custom-built thermal characterization system described in this NASA-TM is specifically designed to measure the inplane thermal diffusivity, and the Seebeck coefficient for materials in the ranging from 73 K through 373 K.

Decoupling interrelated parameters for designing high performance thermoelectric materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Chong; Li, Zhou; Li, Kun; Huang, Pengcheng; Xie, Yi

2014-04-15

synergistically enhanced thermoelectric properties. This occurs through a significant reduction of thermal conductivity, without the deterioration of thermopower and electrical conductivity. In addition, we introduce the concept of spin entropy in wide band gap semiconductor nanocrystals, which acts to fully disentangle the otherwise interconnected quantities for synergistically optimized thermoelectric performance. Finally, we discuss a new concept we developed that is based on an ultrathin-nanosheet composite that we fabricated from ultrathin nanosheets of atomic thickness. These retain the original strong two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and allow for decoupled optimization of the three thermoelectric parameters, which improves thermoelectric performance.

Nanostructured Bulk Thermoelectric Generator for Efficient Power Harvesting for Self-powered Sensor Networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Yanliang [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Butt, Darryl [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Agarwal, Vivek [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-07-01

The objective of this Nuclear Energy Enabling Technology research project is to develop high-efficiency and reliable thermoelectric generators for self-powered wireless sensors nodes utilizing thermal energy from nuclear plant or fuel cycle. The power harvesting technology has crosscutting significance to address critical technology gaps in monitoring nuclear plants and fuel cycle. The outcomes of the project will lead to significant advancement in sensors and instrumentation technology, reducing cost, improving monitoring reliability and therefore enhancing safety. The self-powered wireless sensor networks could support the long-term safe and economical operation of all the reactor designs and fuel cycle concepts, as well as spent fuel storage and many other nuclear science and engineering applications. The research is based on recent breakthroughs in high-performance nanostructured bulk (nanobulk) thermoelectric materials that enable high-efficiency direct heat-to-electricity conversion over a wide temperature range. The nanobulk thermoelectric materials that the research team at Boise State University and University of Houston has developed yield up to a 50% increase in the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, compared with state-of-the-art bulk counterparts. This report focuses on the selection of optimal thermoelectric materials for this project. The team has performed extensive study on two thermoelectric materials systems, i.e. the half-Heusler materials, and the Bismuth-Telluride materials. The report contains our recent research results on the fabrication, characterization and thermoelectric property measurements of these two materials.

Oxidant-Dependent Thermoelectric Properties of Undoped ZnO Films by Atomic Layer Deposition

KAUST Repository

Kim, Hyunho

2017-02-27

Extraordinary oxidant-dependent changes in the thermoelectric properties of undoped ZnO thin films deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have been observed. Specifically, deionized water and ozone oxidants are used in the growth of ZnO by ALD using diethylzinc as a zinc precursor. No substitutional atoms have been added to the ZnO films. By using ozone as an oxidant instead of water, a thermoelectric power factor (σS) of 5.76 × 10 W m K is obtained at 705 K for undoped ZnO films. In contrast, the maximum power factor for the water-based ZnO film is only 2.89 × 10 W m K at 746 K. Materials analysis results indicate that the oxygen vacancy levels in the water- and ozone-grown ZnO films are essentially the same, but the difference comes from Zn-related defects present in the ZnO films. The data suggest that the strong oxidant effect on thermoelectric performance can be explained by a mechanism involving point defect-induced differences in carrier concentration between these two oxides and a self-compensation effect in water-based ZnO due to the competitive formations of both oxygen and zinc vacancies. This strong oxidant effect on the thermoelectric properties of undoped ZnO films provides a pathway to improve the thermoelectric performance of this important material.

Thermoelectric properties of ZnSb films grown by MOCVD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Venkatasubramanian, R; Watko, E; Colpitts, T

1997-07-01

The thermoelectric properties of ZnSb films grown by metallorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) are reported. The growth conditions necessary to obtain stoichiometric ZnSb films and the effects of various growth parameters on the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficients of the films are described. The as-grown ZnSb films are p-type. It was observed that the thicker ZnSb films offer improved carrier mobilities and lower free-carrier concentration levels. The Seebeck coefficient of ZnSb films was found to rise rapidly at approximately 160 C. The thicker films, due to the lower doping levels, indicate higher Seebeck coefficients between 25 to 200 C. A short annealing of the ZnSb film at temperatures of {approximately}200 C results in reduced free-carrier level. Thermal conductivity measurements of ZnSb films using the 3-{omega} method are also presented.

Green thermoelectrics: Observation and analysis of plant thermoelectric response

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goupil Christophe

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Plants are sensitive to thermal and electrical effects; yet the coupling of both, known as thermoelectricity, and its quantitative measurement in vegetal systems never were reported. We recorded the thermoelectric response of bean sprouts under various thermal conditions and stress. The obtained experimental data unambiguously demonstrate that a temperature difference between the roots and the leaves of a bean sprout induces a thermoelectric voltage between these two points. Basing our analysis of the data on the force-flux formalism of linear response theory, we found that the strength of the vegetal equivalent to the thermoelectric coupling is one order of magnitude larger than that in the best thermoelectric materials. Experimental data also show the importance of the thermal stress variation rate in the plant’s electrophysiological response. therefore, thermoelectric effects are sufficiently important to partake in the complex and intertwined processes of energy and matter transport within plants.

Chemical Welding on Semimetallic TiS2 Nanosheets for High-Performance Flexible n-Type Thermoelectric Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yuan; Wan, Juanyong; Li, Qi; Chen, Lei; Zhou, Jiyang; Wang, Heao; He, Dunren; Li, Xiaorui; Yang, Yaocheng; Huang, Huihui

2017-12-13

Solution-based processing of two-dimensional (2D) materials provides the possibility of allowing these materials to be incorporated into large-area thin films, which can translate the interesting fundamental properties of 2D materials into available devices. Here, we report for the first time a novel chemical-welding method to achieve high-performance flexible n-type thermoelectric films using 2D semimetallic TiS 2 nanosheets. We employ chemically exfoliated TiS 2 nanosheets bridged with multivalent cationic metal Al 3+ to cross-link the nearby sheets during the film deposition process. We find that such a treatment can greatly enhance the stability of the film and can improve the power factor by simultaneously increasing the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity. The resulting TiS 2 nanosheet-based flexible film shows a room temperature power factor of ∼216.7 μW m -1 K -2 , which is among the highest chemically exfoliated 2D transition-metal dichalcogenide nanosheet-based films and comparable to the best flexible n-type thermoelectric films, to our knowledge, indicating its potential applications in wearable electronics.

New experimental methodology, setup and LabView program for accurate absolute thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity measurements between 25 and 1600 K: Application to pure copper, platinum, tungsten, and nickel at very high temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abadlia, L.; Mayoufi, M.; Gasser, F.; Khalouk, K.; Gasser, J. G.

2014-01-01

In this paper we describe an experimental setup designed to measure simultaneously and very accurately the resistivity and the absolute thermoelectric power, also called absolute thermopower or absolute Seebeck coefficient, of solid and liquid conductors/semiconductors over a wide range of temperatures (room temperature to 1600 K in present work). A careful analysis of the existing experimental data allowed us to extend the absolute thermoelectric power scale of platinum to the range 0-1800 K with two new polynomial expressions. The experimental device is controlled by a LabView program. A detailed description of the accurate dynamic measurement methodology is given in this paper. We measure the absolute thermoelectric power and the electrical resistivity and deduce with a good accuracy the thermal conductivity using the relations between the three electronic transport coefficients, going beyond the classical Wiedemann-Franz law. We use this experimental setup and methodology to give new very accurate results for pure copper, platinum, and nickel especially at very high temperatures. But resistivity and absolute thermopower measurement can be more than an objective in itself. Resistivity characterizes the bulk of a material while absolute thermoelectric power characterizes the material at the point where the electrical contact is established with a couple of metallic elements (forming a thermocouple). In a forthcoming paper we will show that the measurement of resistivity and absolute thermoelectric power characterizes advantageously the (change of) phase, probably as well as DSC (if not better), since the change of phases can be easily followed during several hours/days at constant temperature

New experimental methodology, setup and LabView program for accurate absolute thermoelectric power and electrical resistivity measurements between 25 and 1600 K: application to pure copper, platinum, tungsten, and nickel at very high temperatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Abadlia, L; Gasser, F; Khalouk, K; Mayoufi, M; Gasser, J G

2014-09-01

In this paper we describe an experimental setup designed to measure simultaneously and very accurately the resistivity and the absolute thermoelectric power, also called absolute thermopower or absolute Seebeck coefficient, of solid and liquid conductors/semiconductors over a wide range of temperatures (room temperature to 1600 K in present work). A careful analysis of the existing experimental data allowed us to extend the absolute thermoelectric power scale of platinum to the range 0-1800 K with two new polynomial expressions. The experimental device is controlled by a LabView program. A detailed description of the accurate dynamic measurement methodology is given in this paper. We measure the absolute thermoelectric power and the electrical resistivity and deduce with a good accuracy the thermal conductivity using the relations between the three electronic transport coefficients, going beyond the classical Wiedemann-Franz law. We use this experimental setup and methodology to give new very accurate results for pure copper, platinum, and nickel especially at very high temperatures. But resistivity and absolute thermopower measurement can be more than an objective in itself. Resistivity characterizes the bulk of a material while absolute thermoelectric power characterizes the material at the point where the electrical contact is established with a couple of metallic elements (forming a thermocouple). In a forthcoming paper we will show that the measurement of resistivity and absolute thermoelectric power characterizes advantageously the (change of) phase, probably as well as DSC (if not better), since the change of phases can be easily followed during several hours/days at constant temperature.

The Influence of α- and γ-Al2O3 Phases on the Thermoelectric Properties of Al-doped ZnO

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Han, Li; Van Nong, Ngo; Le, Thanh Hung

2013-01-01

A systematic investigation on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties of Al-doped ZnO using α- and γ-Al2O3 as dopants was conducted in order to understand the doping effect and its mechanism. The samples were prepared by the spark plasma sintering technique from precursors calcined...... at various temperatures. Clear differences in microstructure and thermoelectric properties were observed between the samples doped with α- and γ-Al2O3. At any given calcination temperature, γ-Al2O3 resulted in the formation of a larger amount of the ZnAl2O4 phase in the Al-doped ZnO samples. The average...... grain size was found to be smaller for the γ-Al2O3-doped samples than that for the α-Al2O3-doped ones under the same sintering condition. It is proposed that the ZnAl2O4 phase is the reason for the observed suppression of grain growth and also for the slightly reduced lattice thermal conductivity...

Introduction to thermoelectricity

CERN Document Server

Goldsmid, H Julian

2010-01-01

Introduction to Thermoelectricity is the latest work by Professor Julian Goldsmid drawing on his 55 years experience in the field. The theory of the thermoelectric and related phenomena is presented in sufficient detail to enable researchers to understand their observations and develop improved thermoelectric materials. The methods for the selection of materials and their improvement are discussed. Thermoelectric materials for use in refrigeration and electrical generation are reviewed. Experimental techniques for the measurement of properties and for the production of thermoelements are described. Special emphasis is placed on nanotechnology which promises to yield great improvements in the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. Chapters are also devoted to transverse thermoelectric effects and thermionic energy conversion, both techniques offering the promise of important applications in the future.

Electronic cooling using thermoelectric devices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zebarjadi, M., E-mail: m.zebarjadi@rutgers.edu [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854 (United States); Institute of Advanced Materials, Devices, and Nanotechnology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854 (United States)

2015-05-18

Thermoelectric coolers or Peltier coolers are used to pump heat in the opposite direction of the natural heat flux. These coolers have also been proposed for electronic cooling, wherein the aim is to pump heat in the natural heat flux direction and from hot spots to the colder ambient temperature. In this manuscript, we show that for such applications, one needs to use thermoelectric materials with large thermal conductivity and large power factor, instead of the traditionally used high ZT thermoelectric materials. We further show that with the known thermoelectric materials, the active cooling cannot compete with passive cooling, and one needs to explore a new set of materials to provide a cooling solution better than a regular copper heat sink. We propose a set of materials and directions for exploring possible materials candidates suitable for electronic cooling. Finally, to achieve maximum cooling, we propose to use thermoelectric elements as fins attached to copper blocks.

Temperature Dependence of the Seebeck Coefficient in Zinc Oxide Thin Films

Science.gov (United States)

Noori, Amirreza; Masoumi, Saeed; Hashemi, Najmeh

2017-12-01

Thermoelectric devices are reliable tools for converting waste heat into electricity as they last long, produce no noise or vibration, have no moving elements, and their light weight makes them suitable for the outer space usage. Materials with high thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) have the most important role in the fabrication of efficient thermoelectric devices. Metal oxide semiconductors, specially zinc oxide has recently received attention as a material suitable for sensor, optoelectronic and thermoelectric device applications because of their wide direct bandgap, chemical stability, high-energy radiation endurance, transparency and acceptable zT. Understanding the thermoelectric properties of the undoped ZnO thin films can help design better ZnO-based devices. Here, we report the results of our experimental work on the thermoelectric properties of the undoped polycrystalline ZnO thin films. These films are deposited on alumina substrates by thermal evaporation of zinc in vacuum followed by a controlled oxidation process in air carried out at the 350-500 °C temperature range. The experimental setup including gradient heaters, thermometry system and Seebeck voltage measurement equipment for high resistance samples is described. Seebeck voltage and electrical resistivity of the samples are measured at different conditions. The observed temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient is discussed.

Thermoelectricity in liquid crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd Said, Suhana; Nordin, Abdul Rahman; Abdullah, Norbani; Balamurugan, S.

2015-09-01

The thermoelectric effect, also known as the Seebeck effect, describes the conversion of a temperature gradient into electricity. A Figure of Merit (ZT) is used to describe the thermoelectric ability of a material. It is directly dependent on its Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity, and inversely dependent on its thermal conductivity. There is usually a compromise between these parameters, which limit the performance of thermoelectric materials. The current achievement for ZT~2.2 falls short of the expected threshold of ZT=3 to allow its viability in commercial applications. In recent times, advances in organic thermoelectrics been significant, improving by over 3 orders of magnitude over a period of about 10 years. Liquid crystals are newly investigated as candidate thermoelectric materials, given their low thermal conductivity, inherent ordering, and in some cases, reasonable electrical conductivity. In this work the thermoelectric behaviour of a discotic liquid crystal, is discussed. The DLC was filled into cells coated with a charge injector, and an alignment of the columnar axis perpendicular to the substrate was allowed to form. This thermoelectric behavior can be correlated to the order-disorder transition. A reasonable thermoelectric power in the liquid crystal temperature regime was noted. In summary, thermoelectric liquid crystals may have the potential to be utilised in flexible devices, as a standalone power source.

Thermoelectric property of fine-grained CoSb3 skutterudite compound fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Weishu; Zhang Boping; Li Jingfeng; Zhao Lidong

2007-01-01

Skutterudite CoSb 3 polycrystalline materials were prepared using a combined process of mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The influence of SPS temperature on the thermoelectric properties was focused in this work with a special emphasis on the analysis of the size effects of grains. The average grain sizes decreased from 300 to 50 nm with decreasing SPS temperatures from 600 to 300 deg. C. The electrical resistivities of samples spark plasma sintered at 300-600 deg. C all decreased with increasing temperature, indicating a classic intrinsic conduction behaviour of semiconductors. The samples spark plasma sintered at 300-500 deg. C showed a positive Seebeck coefficient while the sample spark plasma sintered at 600 deg. C showed a negative Seebeck coefficient. The room-temperature thermal conductivities were reduced from 4.30 to 2.92 W m -1 K -1 as the grain sizes were decreased from 300 to 100 nm corresponding to SPS at 600 and 400 deg. C, respectively. The present work indicates that MA and SPS is a good combination for fabricating fine-grained CoSb 3 thermoelectric materials

Nanostructured oxide materials and modules for high temperature power generation from waste heat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Nong, Ngo; Pryds, Nini

2013-01-01

are not easily satisfied by conventional thermoelectric materials. Not only they must possess a sufficient thermoelectric performance, they should also be stable at high temperatures, nontoxic and low-cost comprising elements, and must be also able to be processed and shaped cheaply. Oxides are among...... the strongest candidate materials for this purpose. In this review, the progress in the development of two representative p- and n-type novel oxide materials based on Ca3Co4O9 and doped-ZnO is presented. Thermoelectric modules built up from these oxides were fabricated, tested at high temperatures, and compared...... with other similar oxide modules reported in the literature. A maximum power density of 4.5 kW/m2 was obtained for an oxide module comprising of 8 p-n couples at a temperature difference of 496 K, an encouraging result in the context of the present high temperature oxide modules....

The Effect of (Ag, Ni, Zn-Addition on the Thermoelectric Properties of Copper Aluminate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianxiao Xu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Polycrystalline bulk copper aluminate Cu1-x-yAgxByAlO2 with B = Ni or Zn were prepared by spark plasma sintering and subsequent thermal treatment. The influence of partial substitution of Ag, Ni and Zn for Cu-sites in CuAlO2 on the high temperature thermoelectric properties has been studied. The addition of Ag and Zn was found to enhance the formation of CuAlO2 phase and to increase the electrical conductivity. The addition of Ag or Ag and Ni on the other hand decreases the electrical conductivity. The highest power factor of 1.26 × 10-4 W/mK2 was obtained for the addition of Ag and Zn at 1,060 K, indicating a significant improvement compared with the non-doped CuAlO2 sample.

Microwave plasma synthesis of Si/Ge and Si/WSi2 nanoparticles for thermoelectric applications

Science.gov (United States)

Petermann, Nils; Schneider, Tom; Stötzel, Julia; Stein, Niklas; Weise, Claudia; Wlokas, Irenäus; Schierning, Gabi; Wiggers, Hartmut

2015-08-01

The utilization of microwave-based plasma systems enables a contamination-free synthesis of highly specific nanoparticles in the gas phase. A reactor setup allowing stable, long-term operation was developed with the support of computational fluid dynamics. This paper highlights the prospects of gas-phase plasma synthesis to produce specific materials for bulk thermoelectrics. Taking advantage of specific plasma reactor properties such as Coulomb repulsion in combination with gas temperatures considerably higher than 1000 K, spherical and non-aggregated nanoparticles of multiple compositions are accessible. Different strategies towards various nanostructured composites and alloys are discussed. It is shown that, based on doped silicon/germanium alloys and composites, thermoelectric materials with zT values up to almost unity can be synthesized in one step. First experimental results concerning silicon/tungsten silicide thermoelectrics applying the nanoparticle-in-alloy idea are presented indicating that this concept might work. However, it is found that tungsten silicides show a surprising sinter activity more than 1000 K below their melting temperature.

Universal Majorana thermoelectric noise

Science.gov (United States)

Smirnov, Sergey

2018-04-01

Thermoelectric phenomena resulting from an interplay between particle flows induced by electric fields and temperature inhomogeneities are extremely insightful as a tool providing substantial knowledge about the microscopic structure of a given system. By tuning, e.g., parameters of a nanoscopic system coupled via tunneling mechanisms to two contacts, one may achieve various situations where the electric current induced by an external bias voltage competes with the electric current excited by the temperature difference of the two contacts. Even more exciting physics emerges when the system's electronic degrees freedom split to form Majorana fermions which make the thermoelectric dynamics universal. Here, we propose revealing these unique universal signatures of Majorana fermions in strongly nonequilibrium quantum dots via noise of the thermoelectric transport beyond linear response. It is demonstrated that whereas mean thermoelectric quantities are only universal at large-bias voltages, the noise of the electric current excited by an external bias voltage and the temperature difference of the contacts is universal at any bias voltage. We provide truly universal, i.e., independent of the system's parameters, thermoelectric ratios between nonlinear response coefficients of the noise and mean current at large-bias voltages where experiments may easily be performed to uniquely detect these truly universal Majorana thermoelectric signatures.

Effect of ball milling time on thermoelectric properties of bismuth telluride nanomaterials

Science.gov (United States)

Khade, Poonam; Bagwaiya, Toshi; Bhattacharaya, Shovit; Singh, Ajay; Jha, Purushottam; Shelke, Vilas

2018-04-01

The effect of different milling time on thermoelectric properties of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) was investigated. The nanomaterial was prepared by varying the ball milling time and followed by hot press sintering. The crystal structure and phase formation were verified by X-ray diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy. The experimental results show that electrical conductivity increases whereas thermal conductivity decreases with increasing milling time. The negative sign of seebeck coefficient indicate the n-type nature with majority charge carriers of electrons. A maximum figure of merit about 0.55 is achieved for l5hr ball milled Bi2Te3 sample. The present study demonstrates the simple and cost-effective method for synthesis of Bi2Te3 thermoelectric material at large scale thermoelectric applications.

Effects of ball milling on microstructures and thermoelectric properties of higher manganese silicides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Xi [Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Shi, Li, E-mail: lishi@mail.utexas.edu [Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Zhou, Jianshi; Goodenough, John B. [Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)

2015-08-25

Highlights: • The already low κ{sub L} of HMS can be suppressed further by decreasing the grain size. • The ball milling process can lead to the formation of secondary MnSi and W/C-rich phases. • The formation of the MnSi ad W/C rich phases is found to suppress the thermoelectric power factor. - Abstract: Bulk nanostructured higher manganese silicide (HMS) samples with different grain size are prepared by melting, subsequent ball milling (BM), and followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effects of BM time on the microstructures and thermoelectric properties of these samples are investigated. It is found that BM effectively reduces the grain size to about 90 nm in the sample after SPS, which leads to a decrease in both the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity. By prolonging the BM time, MnSi and tungsten/carbon-rich impurity phases are formed due to the impact-induced decomposition of HMS and contamination from the tungsten carbide jar and balls during the BM, respectively. These impurities result in a reduced Seebeck coefficient and increased thermal conductivity above room temperature. The measured size-dependent lattice thermal conductivities agree qualitatively with the reported calculation results based on a combined phonon and diffuson model. The size effects are found to be increasingly significant as temperature decreases. Because of the formation of the impurity phases and a relatively large grain size, the ZT values are not improved in the ball-milled HMS samples. These findings suggest the need of alternative approaches for the synthesis of pure HMS with further reduced grain size and controlled impurity doping in order to enhance the thermoelectric figure-of-merit of HMS via nanostructuring.

Ge/SiGe superlattices for nanostructured thermoelectric modules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chrastina, D.; Cecchi, S.; Hague, J.P.; Frigerio, J.; Samarelli, A.; Ferre–Llin, L.; Paul, D.J.; Müller, E.; Etzelstorfer, T.; Stangl, J.; Isella, G.

2013-01-01

Thermoelectrics are presently used in a number of applications for both turning heat into electricity and also for using electricity to produce cooling. Mature Si/SiGe and Ge/SiGe heteroepitaxial growth technology would allow highly efficient thermoelectric materials to be engineered, which would be compatible and integrable with complementary metal oxide silicon micropower circuits used in autonomous systems. A high thermoelectric figure of merit requires that electrical conductivity be maintained while thermal conductivity is reduced; thermoelectric figures of merit can be improved with respect to bulk thermoelectric materials by fabricating low-dimensional structures which enhance the density of states near the Fermi level and through phonon scattering at heterointerfaces. We have grown and characterized Ge-rich Ge/SiGe/Si superlattices for nanofabricated thermoelectric generators. Low-energy plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition has been used to obtain nanoscale-heterostructured material which is several microns thick. Crystal quality and strain control have been investigated by means of high resolution X-ray diffraction. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images confirm the material and interface quality. Electrical conductivity has been characterized by the mobility spectrum technique. - Highlights: ► High-quality Ge/SiGe multiple quantum wells for thermoelectric applications ► Mobility spectra of systems featuring a large number of parallel conduction channels ► Competitive thermoelectric properties measured in single devices

Searching for new thermoelectrics in chemically and structurally complex bismuth chalcogenides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chung, D Y; Hogan, T; Schindler, J; Iordanidis, L; Brazis, P; Kannewurf, C R; Chen, B; Uher, C; Kanatzidis, M G

1997-07-01

A solid state chemistry synthetic approach towards identifying new materials with potentially superior thermoelectric properties is presented. Materials with complex compositions and structures also have complex electronic structures which may give rise to high thermoelectric powers and at the same time possess low thermal conductivities. The structures and thermoelectric properties of several new promising compounds with K-Bi-Se, K-Bi-S, Ba-Bi-Te, Cs-Bi-Te, and Rb-bi-Te are reported.

Temperature dependence of the thermoelectric coeffiicients of lithium niobate and lithium tantalate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khachaturyan, O.A.; Gabrielyan, A.I.; Kolesnik, S.P.

1988-01-01

Thermoelectric Zeebeck,Thomson, Peltier coefficients for LiNbO 3 and LiTaO 3 monocrystals and their dependence on temperature in 300-1400 K range were investigated. It is shown that Zeebeck (α) coefficient changes its sign, depending on temperature change - the higher is α, the higher is material conductivity in the corresponding temperature region. Thomson and Peltier coefficients were calculated analytically for lithium niobate and tantalate

Thermoelectric materials having porosity

Science.gov (United States)

Heremans, Joseph P.; Jaworski, Christopher M.; Jovovic, Vladimir; Harris, Fred

2014-08-05

A thermoelectric material and a method of making a thermoelectric material are provided. In certain embodiments, the thermoelectric material comprises at least 10 volume percent porosity. In some embodiments, the thermoelectric material has a zT greater than about 1.2 at a temperature of about 375 K. In some embodiments, the thermoelectric material comprises a topological thermoelectric material. In some embodiments, the thermoelectric material comprises a general composition of (Bi.sub.1-xSb.sub.x).sub.u(Te.sub.1-ySe.sub.y).sub.w, wherein 0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.1, 0.ltoreq.y.ltoreq.1, 1.8.ltoreq.u.ltoreq.2.2, 2.8.ltoreq.w.ltoreq.3.2. In further embodiments, the thermoelectric material includes a compound having at least one group IV element and at least one group VI element. In certain embodiments, the method includes providing a powder comprising a thermoelectric composition, pressing the powder, and sintering the powder to form the thermoelectric material.

Importance of non-parabolic band effects in the thermoelectric properties of semiconductors

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xin; Parker, David; Singh, David J.

2013-01-01

We present an analysis of the thermoelectric properties of of n-type GeTe and SnTe in relation to the lead chalcogenides PbTe and PbSe. We find that the singly degenerate conduction bands of semiconducting GeTe and SnTe are highly non-ellipsoidal, even very close to the band edges. This leads to isoenergy surfaces with a strongly corrugated shape that is clearly evident at carrier concentrations well below 0.005 e per formula unit (7–9 × 1019 cm−3 depending on material). Analysis within Boltzmann theory suggests that this corrugation may be favorable for the thermoelectric transport. Our calculations also indicate that values of the power factor for these two materials may well exceed those of PbTe and PbSe. As a result these materials may exhibit n-type performance exceeding that of the lead chalcogenides. PMID:24196778

Segmentation of low‐cost high efficiency oxide‐based thermoelectric materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Le, Thanh Hung; Van Nong, Ngo; Linderoth, Søren

2015-01-01

Thermoelectric (TE) oxide materials have attracted great interest in advanced renewable energy research owing to the fact that they consist of abundant elements, can be manufactured by low-cost processing, sustain high temperatures, be robust and provide long lifetime. However, the low conversion...... efficiency of TE oxides has been a major drawback limiting these materials to broaden applications. In this work, theoretical calculations are used to predict how segmentation of oxide and semimetal materials, utilizing the benefits of both types of materials, can provide high efficiency, high temperature...... oxide-based segmented legs. The materials for segmentation are selected by their compatibility factors and their conversion efficiency versus material cost, i.e., “efficiency ratio”. Numerical modelling results showed that conversion efficiency could reach values of more than 10% for unicouples using...

High Thermoelectric Power Factor of High-Mobility 2D Electron Gas.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohta, Hiromichi; Kim, Sung Wng; Kaneki, Shota; Yamamoto, Atsushi; Hashizume, Tamotsu

2018-01-01

Thermoelectric conversion is an energy harvesting technology that directly converts waste heat from various sources into electricity by the Seebeck effect of thermoelectric materials with a large thermopower ( S ), high electrical conductivity (σ), and low thermal conductivity (κ). State-of-the-art nanostructuring techniques that significantly reduce κ have realized high-performance thermoelectric materials with a figure of merit ( ZT = S 2 ∙σ∙ T ∙κ -1 ) between 1.5 and 2. Although the power factor (PF = S 2 ∙σ) must also be enhanced to further improve ZT , the maximum PF remains near 1.5-4 mW m -1 K -2 due to the well-known trade-off relationship between S and σ. At a maximized PF, σ is much lower than the ideal value since impurity doping suppresses the carrier mobility. A metal-oxide-semiconductor high electron mobility transistor (MOS-HEMT) structure on an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure is prepared. Applying a gate electric field to the MOS-HEMT simultaneously modulates S and σ of the high-mobility electron gas from -490 µV K -1 and ≈10 -1 S cm -1 to -90 µV K -1 and ≈10 4 S cm -1 , while maintaining a high carrier mobility (≈1500 cm 2 V -1 s -1 ). The maximized PF of the high-mobility electron gas is ≈9 mW m -1 K -2 , which is a two- to sixfold increase compared to state-of-the-art practical thermoelectric materials.