Sticky thermoelectric materials for flexible thermoelectric modules to capture low-temperature waste heat

MRS Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 481-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norifusa Satoh ◽  
Masaji Otsuka ◽  
Yasuaki Sakurai ◽  
Takeshi Asami ◽  
Yoshitsugu Goto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Conductive Adhesives ◽  
Hot Plate ◽  
Low Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Te Modules ◽  
P Type ◽  
Flexible Thermoelectric

ABSTRACTWe examined a working hypothesis of sticky thermoelectric (TE) materials, which is inversely designed to mass-produce flexible TE sheets with lamination or roll-to-roll processes without electric conductive adhesives. Herein, we prepared p-type and n-type sticky TE materials via mixing antimony and bismuth powders with low-volatilizable organic solvents to achieve a low thermal conductivity. Since the sticky TE materials are additionally injected into punched polymer sheets to contact with the upper and bottom electrodes in the fabrication process, the sticky TE modules of ca. 2.4 mm in thickness maintained temperature differences of ca. 10°C and 40°C on a hot plate of 40 °C and 120°C under a natural-air cooling condition with a fin. In the single-cell resistance analysis, we found that 75∼150-µm bismuth powder shows lower resistance than the smaller-sized one due to the fewer number of particle-particle interfaces in the electric pass between the upper and bottom electrodes. After adjusting the printed wiring pattern for the upper and bottom electrodes, we achieved 42 mV on a hot plate (120°C) with the 6 x 6 module having 212 Ω in the total resistance. In addition to the possibility of mass production at a reasonable cost, the sticky TE materials provide a low thermal conductivity for flexible TE modules to capture low-temperature waste heat under natural-air cooling conditions with fins for the purpose of energy harvesting.

scholarly journals High thermoelectric performance enabled by convergence of nested conduction bands in Pb7Bi4Se13 with low thermal conductivity

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Hu ◽  
Yue-Wen Fang ◽  
Feiyu Qin ◽  
Xun Cao ◽  
Xiaoxu Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Thermoelectric Performance ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Quality Factors ◽  
Thermoelectric Efficiency ◽  
Low Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Conduction Bands ◽  
Thermoelectric Energy

AbstractThermoelectrics enable waste heat recovery, holding promises in relieving energy and environmental crisis. Lillianite materials have been long-term ignored due to low thermoelectric efficiency. Herein we report the discovery of superior thermoelectric performance in Pb7Bi4Se13 based lillianites, with a peak figure of merit, zT of 1.35 at 800 K and a high average zT of 0.92 (450–800 K). A unique quality factor is established to predict and evaluate thermoelectric performances. It considers both band nonparabolicity and band gaps, commonly negligible in conventional quality factors. Such appealing performance is attributed to the convergence of effectively nested conduction bands, providing a high number of valley degeneracy, and a low thermal conductivity, stemming from large lattice anharmonicity, low-frequency localized Einstein modes and the coexistence of high-density moiré fringes and nanoscale defects. This work rekindles the vision that Pb7Bi4Se13 based lillianites are promising candidates for highly efficient thermoelectric energy conversion.

Performance and Testing of Novel Quantum Well Thermoelectric Devices

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Velimir Jovanovic ◽  
Saeid Ghamaty ◽  
Norbert B. Elsner ◽  
Daniel Krommenhoek ◽  
John C. Bass
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Quantum Well ◽  
Seebeck Coefficient ◽  
Coefficient Of Performance ◽  
Test Technique ◽  
Low Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Barrier Materials ◽  
Te Modules ◽  
Conversion Efficiencies

New nano-structured thermoelectric (TE) materials have been developed and fabricated that have much higher conversion efficiencies than the state-of-the-art (SOTA) bulk thermoelectrics. In these new quantum well (QW) materials, the carrier and barrier materials (in this case SiGe and Si) are confined in alternating layers less than 10 nm thick, and this confinement has been shown to result in greatly improved TE properties (Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity) leading to higher TE Figure of Merit, ZT, conversion efficiencies and Coefficient of Performance (COP) for cooling applications than for SOTA thermoelectrics. From the most recent QW test data, ZTs greater than 3 at room temperature have been obtained which constitutes a significant improvement over the SOTA bulk thermoelectrics which have ZTs less than 1. QW materials have the best measured TE power factor (Seebeck coefficient squared divided by electrical resistivity) and, combined with low thermal conductivity substrates, should provide very high efficiency TE modules. The QW TE materials with ZTs greater than 3 lead to conversion efficiencies greater than 20 percent, which allows for much wider commercial applications, particularly in the applications such as the waste-heat recovery from truck engines, refrigeration, and air conditioning, where the SOTA bulk TE modules were shown to be technically feasible but economically unjustified due to low conversion efficiencies. With higher efficiency QW materials, these applications become economically attractive. The above mentioned QW TE ZTs include the effect of the substrate which degrades the overall performance, and a new test technique was developed that eliminates the effect of the substrate and for just the QW films, ZTs greater than 6 have been measured. This illustrated the importance of using a low thermal conductivity substrate in order to achieve good TE performance. In a recent QW test, a conversion efficiency corresponding to 62 percent of the Carnot efficiency was measured and this is believed to be the highest such value ever measured for a TE material. For power generation applications, QW TE generators can be designed for capacities ranging from milliwatts to kilowatts and for cooling applications with capacities ranging from watts to several tons of refrigeration. The paper discusses the effects of the thermal and electrical contact resistances and of substrate thermal conductivity on the TE performance, the status of the prototype QW TE generators and coolers being designed and fabricated, and the latest test results.

Low thermal conductivity and high figure of merit for rapidly synthesized n-type Pb1−xBixTe alloys

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (44) ◽  
pp. 15957-15966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Chen ◽  
Hongchao Wang ◽  
Wenbin Su ◽  
Fahad Mehmood ◽  
Teng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Figure Of Merit ◽  
Low Thermal Conductivity ◽  
High Figure

High zTs of Pb1−xBixTe alloys rapidly synthesized at low temperature in this study are comparable to those from conventional melting synthesis.

Improving power factor and figure of merit of p-type CuSbSe2 via introducing Sb vacancies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Chen ◽  
Hongwei Ming ◽  
Xiaoying Qin ◽  
Chen Zhu ◽  
Lulu Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Thermoelectric Material ◽  
Power Factor ◽  
Figure Of Merit ◽  
Environment Friendly ◽  
Low Thermal Conductivity ◽  
P Type

As a thermoelectric material, p-type CuSbSe2 has attracted much attention due to its intrinsic low thermal conductivity and environment-friendly constituents. In this work, Sb deficient compounds CuSb1-xSe2 (x=0-0.12) are prepared...

Sb deficiencies control hole transport and boost the thermoelectric performance of p-type AgSbSe2

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (40) ◽  
pp. 10415-10421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satya N. Guin ◽  
Kanishka Biswas
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Electrical Conductivity ◽  
Carrier Transport ◽  
Hole Transport ◽  
Thermoelectric Performance ◽  
Low Thermal Conductivity ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
P Type

We demonstrate a new strategy to control the carrier transport in AgSbSe2by introducing Sb deficiencies. Enhanced electrical conductivity and ultra-low thermal conductivity resulted a peak ZT value ∼1 at 610 K in Sb deficient AgSbSe2.

Ultra low thermal conductivity of disordered layered p-type bismuth telluride

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 2362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Grasso ◽  
Naohito Tsujii ◽  
Qinghui Jiang ◽  
Jibran Khaliq ◽  
Satofumi Maruyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Bismuth Telluride ◽  
Low Thermal Conductivity ◽  
P Type

The Utilization of Heat Pipe on Cold Surface of Thermoelectric with Low-Temperature Waste Heat

2013 ◽  
Vol 302 ◽  
pp. 410-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuryati Djafar ◽  
Nandy Putra ◽  
Raldi A. Koestoer
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Heat Pipe ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Cold Surface ◽  
Generator System ◽  
Electric Generator ◽  
Collector Plate ◽  
Electrical Generator ◽  
Te Modules

Thermoelectric (TE) modules are a thermo-element device that can harness the heat and convert it into electrical energy. As an electrical generator system, TE has several advantages i.e not noisy, easy maintenance, relatively small, lightweight and environmentally friendly because it does not produce pollution. In this paper, the research about the performance of TE modules that used for electric generator has been done. TE modules utilize low temperature waste-heat from a solar cell that simulated with a combination of a bulb and a collector plate. TE modules which tested are single and double modules, in which for double modules, connectivity Thermal-Series was used. Parameters of performance such as output power generated are determined by measuring the temperatures difference and the voltages difference at the test module as well as using several equations. The results show that the distance of heat source and load applied will greatly affect the performance of thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules. The results showed that the number of modules and loading will greatly affect the performance of TEG modules. The use of heat pipes generate a far greater power 4-6 times on the single TE Module (0.84 mW) than without heat pipe (0.14 mW), and a double TE modules that uses heat pipe will became 4 times larger (1.48mW) than without heat pipe (0.37mW).

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