Search results for "Thermoelectric effect"
showing 10 items of 147 documents
Structural Principles and Thermoelectric Properties of Polytypic Group 14 Clathrate-II Frameworks
2013
We have investigated the structural principles and thermoelectric properties of polytypic group 14 clathrate-II frameworks using quantum chemical methods. The experimentally known cubic 3C polytype was found to be the energetically most favorable framework, but the studied hexagonal polytypes (2 H, 4 H, 6 H, 8 H, 10 H) lie energetically close to it. In the case of germanium, the energy difference between the 3C and 6H clathrate-II polytypes is ten times smaller than the difference between the experimentally known 3C-Ge (α-Ge) and 4H-Ge polytypes. The thermoelectric properties of guest-occupied clathrate-II structures were investigated for compositions Na-Rb-Ga-Ge and Ge-As-I. The clathrate-…
Thermoelectric properties of spark plasma sintered composites based on TiNiSn half-Heusler alloys
2011
Half-Heusler (HH) and especially TiNiSn-based alloys have shown high potential as thermoelectric (TE) materials for power generation applications. The reported transport properties show, however, a significant spread of results, due mainly to the difficulty in fabricating single-phase HH samples in these multicomponent and multiphased systems. In particular, little attention has been paid to the influence of the various minority phases on the TE performance of these compounds. A clear understanding of these issues is mandatory for the design of improved and stable TE HH-based composites. This study examines the structural and compositional influence of the residual metallic (Sn) and interme…
Synthesis and thermoelectric properties of 2- and 2,8-substituted tetrathiotetracenes
2018
Reaction of elemental sulfur with 2-R1 and 2,8-R1,R2-substituted tetracenes (2) in refluxing DMF affords 5,6,11,12 tetrathiotetracenes (1) in good yields (74–99%) for a range of substituents where R1,R2 are: H,H (a); Me,H (b); MeO,H (c); Ph,H (d); Me,Me (e), iPr,Me (f, iPr = iso-propyl, CHMe2), Me,MeO (g); MeO,MeO (h). The reaction rate is limited only by the solubility of the tetracene (2); 2g–h being both the least soluble and slowest reacting. At partial conversion recovered single crystalline 2g led to its X-ray structure determination. Vacuum deposited (substrate deposition temperature 300 K, pressure 7 × 10−6 mbar, source temperature 500 K) thin films from 1 (of initial 88–99% purity)…
Thermal stability and enhanced thermoelectric properties of the tetragonal tungsten bronzes Nb8-xW9+xO47 (0 <x <5)
2017
Thermoelectric materials are believed to play a fundamental role in the energy field over the next years thanks to their ability of directly converting heat into usable electric energy. To increase their integration in the commercial markets, improvements of the efficiencies are needed. At the same time, cheap and non-toxic materials are required along with easily upscalable production cycles. Compounds of the tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) series Nb8-xW9+xO47 fulfill all these requirements and are promising materials. Their adaptive structure ensures glass-like values of the thermal conductivity, and the substitution on the cation side allows a controlled manipulation of the electronic p…
Optimization of the carrier concentration in phase-separated half-Heusler compounds
2014
Inspired by the promising thermoelectric properties of phase-separated half-Heusler materials, we investigated the influence of electron doping in the n-type Ti_(0.3−x)Zr_(0.35)Hf_(0.35)NiSn compound. The addition of Nb to this compound led to a significant increase in its electrical conductivity, and shifted the maximum Seebeck coefficient to higher temperatures owing to the suppression of intrinsic carriers. This resulted in an enhancement of both the power factor α^2σ and figure of merit, zT. The applicability of an average effective mass model revealed the optimized electron properties for samples containing Nb. There is evidence in the literature that the average effective mass model i…
Thermoeletric Heusler Compounds
2015
Thermoelectric converters for power generation aim at reducing CO\(_2\) emission via the conversion of a part of the low-grade waste heat generated by engines, industrial furnaces, gas pipes, etc. to electricity. The recovery of waste heat from the exhaust of an automotive engine, in particular, is an attractive, albeit not very efficient way for reduction of fuel consumption. Thermoelectric converters with high overall efficiency convert heat directly into electricity without moving parts and, thus, not only decrease our reliance on fossil fuels but also actively counteract global warming. State-of-the-art converters are simply too inefficient to be economic, partly due to expensive elemen…
Magnon mode selective spin transport in compensated ferrimagnets
2017
We investigate the generation of magnonic thermal spin currents and their mode selective spin transport across interfaces in insulating, compensated ferrimagnet/normal metal bilayer systems. The spin Seebeck effect signal exhibits a non-monotonic temperature dependence with two sign changes of the detected voltage signals. Using different ferrimagnetic garnets, we demonstrate the universality of the observed complex temperature dependence of the spin Seebeck effect. To understand its origin, we systematically vary the interface between the ferrimagnetic garnet and the metallic layer, and by using different metal layers we establish that interface effects play a dominating role. They do not …
Charge carrier concentration optimization of thermoelectric p-type half-Heusler compounds
2015
The carrier concentration in the p-type half-Heusler compound Ti0.3Zr0.35Hf0.35CoSb1−xSnx was optimized, which is a fundamental approach to enhance the performance of thermoelectric materials. The optimum carrier concentration is reached with a substitution level x = 0.15 of Sn, which yields the maximum power factor, 2.69 × 10−3 W m−1 K−2, and the maximum ZT = 0.8. This is an enhancement of about 40% in the power factor and the figure of merit compared to samples with x = 0.2. To achieve low thermal conductivities in half-Heusler compounds, intrinsic phase separation is an important key point. The present work addresses the influence of different preparation procedures on the quality and re…
Topological insulators and thermoelectric materials
2012
Topological insulators (TIs) are a new quantum state of matter which have gapless surface states inside the bulk energy gap. Starting with the discovery of two dimensional TIs, the HgTe-based quantum wells, many new topological materials have been theoretically predicted and experimentally observed. Currently known TI materials can possibly be classified into two families, the HgTe family and the Bi2Se family. The signatures found in the electronic structure of a TI also cause these materials to be excellent thermoelectric materials. On the other hand, excellent thermoelectric materials can be also topologically trivial. Here we present a short introduction to topological insulators and the…
High Electron Mobility and Disorder Induced by Silver Ion Migration Lead to Good Thermoelectric Performance in the Argyrodite Ag8SiSe6
2017
Superionic chalcopyrites have recently attracted interest in their use as potential thermoelectric materials because of extraordinary low thermal conductivities. To overcome long-term stability issues in thermoelectric generators using superionic materials at evaluated temperatures, materials need to be found that show good thermoelectric performance at moderate temperatures. Here, we present the structural and thermoelectric properties of the argyrodite Ag8SiSe6, which exhibits promising thermoelectric performance close to room temperature.