Thermoelectrics for High Temperatures: A Survey of State of the Art

2009 ◽  
Vol 1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Böttner

AbstractA survey of state of the art of the development of high temperature materials is presented and will be discussed in comparison to the situation in the 1990th. An attempt will be made to assess the state of the art of the materials thermoelectric properties, their technical level, and possible potential for standardized device technology. Also a first assessment based on current commodity prices for some important thermoelectric compounds will be made. As a roundup advantages and drawbacks for some classical and upcoming compounds will be given. The main challenges, which will have to be overcome to finally enable thermoelectric power generation as a recycling technology of “nomadic” energy, will be summarized. As a result, thermoelectrics should play an important role in the field of green energies.

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (18) ◽  
pp. 5872-5879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandvi Saxena ◽  
Tanmoy Maiti

Increasing electrical conductivity in oxides, which are inherently insulators, can be a potential route in developing oxide-based thermoelectric power generators with higher energy conversion efficiency.


2003 ◽  
Vol 793 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.B. Posthill ◽  
J.C. Caylor ◽  
P.D. Crocco ◽  
T.S. Colpitts ◽  
R. Venkatasubramanian

ABSTRACTPbTe-based thin films were deposited by thermal evaporation at temperatures ranging from ambient temperature to 430°C on different vicinal GaAs (100) substrates and BaF2 (111). This materials system is being evaluated as a potential candidate thermoelectric material for a mid-temperature stage in a cascade power generation module. Pure PbTe, PbSe, and multilayer PbTe/PbSe films were investigated. All films deposited on different vicinal GaAs (100) substrates were found to be polycrystalline when deposited at 250°C or lower. A subtle effect of substrate orientation and multilayer periodicity appears to contribute to the more randomly oriented polycrystallinity, which also lowers the thermal conductivity. These results are compared with PbTe epitaxial results on BaF2 (111).


2013 ◽  
Vol 1490 ◽  
pp. 185-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoyuki Nakamura ◽  
Kazuya Hatakeyama ◽  
Masahiro Minowa ◽  
Youhiko Mito ◽  
Koya Arai ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThermoelectric power generation has been attracting attention as a technology for waste heat utilization in which thermal energy is directly converted into electric energy. It is well known that layered cobalt oxide compounds such as NaCo2O4 and Ca3Co4O9 have high thermoelectric properties in p-type oxide semiconductors. However, in most cases, the thermoelectric properties in n-type oxide materials are not as high. Therefore, n-type magnesium silicide (Mg2Si) has been studied as an alternative due to its non-toxicity, environmental friendliness, lightweight property, and comparative abundance compared with other TE systems. In this study, we fabricated π-structure thermoelectric power generation devices using p-type NaCo2O4 elements and n-type Mg2Si elements. The p- and n-type sintering bodies were fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). To reduce the resistance at the interface between elements and electrodes, we processed the surface of the elements before fabricating the devices. The end face of a Mg2Si element was covered with Ni by SPS and that of a NaCo2O4 element was coated with Ag by silver paste and soldering.The thermoelectric device consisted of 18 pairs of p-type and n-type legs connected with Ag electrodes. The cross-sectional and thickness dimensions of the p-type elements were 3.0 mm × 5.0 mm × 7.6 mm (t) and those of the n-type elements were 3.0 mm × 3.0 mm × 7.6 mm (t). The open circuit voltage was 1.9 V and the maximum output power was 1.4 W at a heat source temperature of 873 K and a cooling water temperature of 283 K in air.


Energy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 139-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Park ◽  
H.K. Hwang ◽  
J.W. Seo ◽  
W.-S. Seo

2009 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Balducci ◽  
Andrea Ciccioli ◽  
Giovanni de Maria ◽  
Fiqiri Hoda ◽  
Gerd M. Rosenblatt

Over the last four to five decades, high-temperature materials chemistry (HTMC) has become a flourishing area of scientific and applied research, spurred by both a growing demand for new inorganic materials (e.g., oxide and non-oxide modern multifunctional ceramics, intermetallics, and oxidation-resistant alloys) able to withstand extreme thermal and chemical environments and by the recognition that chemical and physical behavior at high temperatures differs from, and cannot be extrapolated from, behavior at temperatures near room temperature. Despite the important role played by HTMC in modern advanced technology and the fundamental differences in behavior encountered at high temperatures, HTMC topics are rarely covered in chemistry and materials science programs at the university level because of a lack of readily accessible resource material - no textbook exists specifically devoted to HTMC topics. IUPAC's Inorganic Chemistry Division sponsored a project to address this gap, resulting in the present report. The report includes an introduction and seven sections covering historical background, chemical behavior of condensed-phase/gas-phase systems at high temperature, basic concepts of materials thermodynamics, experimental techniques, use of thermodynamic data and modeling, vaporization, and decomposition processes, and gas-solid reactions. The ninth section covers more specific topics, primarily concerning applications of high-temperature materials and processes. Each recommended topic is accompanied by a bibliography of helpful references, a short introduction or explanation including the areas of application, and some relevant teaching suggestions. An extensive annotated resource bibliography is an Appendix to the report available as supplementary material.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1490 ◽  
pp. 161-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Kucukgok ◽  
Q. He ◽  
A. Carlson ◽  
A. G. Melton ◽  
I. T. Ferguson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThermoelectric materials with stable mechanical and chemical properties at high temperature are required for power generation applications. For example, gas temperatures up to 1000°C are normally present in the waste stream of industrial processes and this can be used for electricity generation. There are few semiconductor materials that can operate effectively at these high temperatures. One solution may be the use of wide bandgap materials, and in particular GaN-based materials, which may offer a traditional semiconductor solution for high temperatures thermoelectric power generation. In particular, the ability to both grow GaN-based materials and fabricate them into devices is well understood if their thermoelectric properties are favorable. To investigate the possibility of using III-Nitride and its alloys for thermoelectric applications, we synthesized and characterized room temperature thermoelectric properties of metal organic chemical vapor deposition grown GaN and InGaN with different carrier concentrations and indium compositions. The promising value of Seebeck coefficients and power factors of Si-doped GaN and InGaN indicated that these materials are suitable for thermoelectric applications.


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