Search results for "Thermoelectric effect"

2018

CrN thin films with an N/Cr ratio of 95% were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering onto (0 0 0 1) sapphire substrates. X-ray diffraction and pole figure texture analysis show CrN (1 1 1) epitaxial growth in a twin domain fashion. By changing the nitrogen versus argon gas flow mixture and the deposition temperature, thin films with different surface morphologies ranging from grainy rough textures to flat and smooth films were prepared. These parameters can also affect the CrN x system, with the film compound changing between semiconducting CrN and metallic Cr2N through the regulation of the nitrogen content of the gas flow and the deposition temperature at a constant deposition pressur…

Hole localization in thermoelectric half-Heusler (Zr0.5Hf0.5)Co(Sb1−xSn ) thin films

2019

Abstract The (Ti, Zr, Hf)Co(Sb 1 − x Snx) material class has recently come into focus as an attractive p-type high-temperature thermoelectric material. This study experimentally demonstrates that homogeneous, highly textured (Zr0.5Hf0.5)Co(Sb 1 − x Snx) thin films can be grown on single crystalline MgO. By varying the sputter power, samples with both positive and negative Seebeck coefficient can be grown. The underlying reason for the sign change is the segregation of Sn nano-inclusions, which lower the effective doping of the half-Heusler matrix. Similarly the Hall constant also switches sign at low temperatures, which is modeled assuming semi-metal behavior and low temperature hole locali…

Half-Heusler materials as model systems for phase-separated thermoelectrics

2015

Semiconducting half-Heusler compounds based on NiSn and CoSb have attracted attention because of their good performance as thermoelectric materials. Nanostructuring of the materials was experimentally established through phase separation in (T1−x′Tx″)T(M1−yMy′) alloys when mixing different transition metals (T, T′, T″) or main group elements (M, M′). The electric transport properties of such alloys depend not only on their micro- or nanostructure but also on the atomic-scale electronic structure. In the present work, the influence of the band structure and density of states on the electronic transport and thermoelectric properties is investigated in detail for the constituents of phase-sepa…

Performance evaluation and stability of silicide-based thermoelectric modules

2020

Abstract Long-term studies on thermoelectric generators based on N-type magnesium silicide (Mg2.01Si0.49Sn0.5Sb0.01) and P-type higher manganese silicide (Mn0.98Mo0.02Si1.73Ge0.02) materials are presented, in the operating temperature range of 200 °C–400 °C. Emphasis is put on the performance and reliability of the current collector configuration, especially on the hot side of the module, and on the thermomechanical stresses that are created during operation and lifetime testing as a result of large temperature gradients experienced across the thermoelectric legs. With silver (Ag) paste as contact material, the long term-stability of the uni-couples was carried out on non-metalized legs and…

Enhancement of the Spin Pumping Effect by Magnon Confluence Process in YIG/Pt Bilayers

2019

The experimental investigation of the spin pumping process by dipolar‐exchange magnons parametrically excited in in‐plane magnetized yttrium iron garnet/platinum bilayers is presented. The electric voltage generated in the platinum layer via the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) results from contributions of two opposite spin currents formed by the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect and by the spin pumping from parametric magnons. In the field‐dependent measurements of the spin pumping‐induced component of the ISHE‐voltage, a clearly visible sharp peak is detected at high pumping powers. It is found that the peak position is determined by the process of confluence of two parametrically excited …

Long term stability testing of oxide unicouple thermoelectric modules

2019

Thermoelectric devices based on oxides are good candidates for energy harvesting technologies for use in aggressive conditions where the materials should withstand high temperatures and corrosive environments over prolonged time. This leads to a natural concern for the stability of the electrical contacts, especially on the hot side of the module. In this work, we have assembled several prototype unicouple thermoelectric modules made by pyrolyzed and spark plasma sintered n-type CaMnO3 and p-type Ca3Co4O9 and then tested under different conditions mimicking end-user applications. For baseline experiments we have chosen to use nickel as the contact material in order to show the effect of its…

<title>Ion and electron trapping: release and relaxation processes in fluoride crystals</title>

2001

The thermally stimulated relaxation (TSR) processes in CaF2, BaF2 and LiBaF3 crystals (X-ray irradiated at LNT or RT) have been investigated by means of the ionic conductivity, thermally stimulated (TS) ionic depolarization current (TSDC), TS current (TSC), TS luminescence (TSL) and thermal bleaching techniques. The ionic TSDC measurements evidence that under DC field fluorides accumulate large ionic space-charge (thermoelectric state is formed) as a result of the migrating anion interstitial and/or vacancy capture on defects. In the ionic conductivity region (290 - 650 K) the thermoelectric state anneals, and several wide and overlapping anionic TSDC peaks are detected. The ionic TSDC stag…

Thermoelectric properties of CoTiSb based compounds

2009

Several CoTiSb based compounds were synthesized and investigated on their thermoelectric properties. The aim was to improve the thermoelectric properties of CoTiSb by the systematic substitution of atoms or the introduction of additional Co into the vacant sublattice. The solid solutions Co1+xTiSb, Co1?yCuyTiSb and CoTiSb1?zBiz were synthesized. X-ray diffraction was used to investigate the crystal structure. The resistivity, the Seebeck coefficient and the thermal conductivity were determined for all compounds in the temperature range from 2 to 400?K. The highest figure of merit for each solid solution is presented. We were able to improve the figure of merit by a factor of approximately s…

Towards a microbial thermoelectric cell.

2013

Microbial growth is an exothermic process. Biotechnological industries produce large amounts of heat, usually considered an undesirable by-product. In this work, we report the construction and characterization of the first microbial thermoelectric cell (MTC), in which the metabolic heat produced by a thermally insulated microbial culture is partially converted into electricity through a thermoelectric device optimized for low ΔT values. A temperature of 41°C and net electric voltage of around 250–600 mV was achieved with 1.7 L baker’s yeast culture. This is the first time microbial metabolic energy has been converted into electricity with an ad hoc thermoelectric device. These results might…

Temperature dependence of the non-local spin Seebeck effect in YIG/Pt nanostructures

2017

We study the transport of thermally excited non-equilibrium magnons through the ferrimagnetic insulator YIG using two electrically isolated Pt strips as injector and detector. The diffusing magnons induce a non-local inverse spin Hall voltage in the detector corresponding to the so-called non-local spin Seebeck effect (SSE). We measure the non-local SSE as a function of temperature and strip separation. In experiments at room temperature we observe a sign change of the non-local SSE voltage at a characteristic strip separation d0, in agreement with previous investigations. At lower temperatures however, we find a strong temperature dependence of d0. This suggests that both the angular momen…