Search results for "thermoelectric"

Engineering half-Heusler thermoelectric materials using Zintl chemistry

2016

In this Review, the structure, bonding and defects of half-Heusler compounds are explained in terms of the framework of Zintl (or valence-precise) chemistry. This deeper understanding of the structure and electronic properties of half-Heusler compounds should aid the design of improved thermoelectric materials.

Review on Polymers for Thermoelectric Applications.

2014

In this review, we report the state-of-the-art of polymers in thermoelectricity. Classically, a number of inorganic compounds have been considered as the best thermoelectric materials. Since the prediction of the improvement of the figure of merit by means of electronic confinement in 1993, it has been improved by a factor of 3-4. In the mean time, organic materials, in particular intrinsically conducting polymers, had been considered as competitors of classical thermoelectrics, since their figure of merit has been improved several orders of magnitude in the last few years. We review here the evolution of the figure of merit or the power factor during the last years, and the best candidates…

Nanowires: A route to efficient thermoelectric devices

2019

Miniaturization of electronic devices aims at manufacturing ever smaller products, from mesoscopic to nanoscopic sizes. This trend is challenging because the increased levels of dissipated power demands a better understanding of heat transport in small volumes. A significant amount of the consumed energy in electronics is transformed into heat and dissipated to the environment. Thermoelectric materials offer the possibility to harness dissipated energy and make devices less energy-demanding. Heat-to-electricity conversion requires materials with a strongly suppressed thermal conductivity but still high electronic conduction. Nanowires can meet nicely these two requirements because enhanced …

Magnéli oxides as promising <em>n</em>-type thermoelectrics

2014

The discovery of a large thermopower in cobalt oxides in 1997 lead to a surge of interest in oxides for thermoelectric application. Whereas conversion efficiencies of p-type oxides can compete with non-oxide materials, n-type oxides show significantly lower thermoelectric performances. In this context so-called Magneli oxides have recently gained attention as promising n-type thermoelectrics. A combination of crystallographic shear and intrinsic disorder lead to relatively low thermal conductivities and metallic-like electrical conductivities in Magneli oxides. Current peak-zT values of 0.3 around 1100 K for titanium and tungsten Magneli oxides are encouraging for future research. Here, we …

Electrochemical Synthesis of Hybrid Layered Thermoelectric Materials Based on PEDOT/SnS Doped with Ag

2021

Thermoelectric properties of spark-plasma sintered nanoparticular FeSb2prepared via a solution chemistry approach

2013

Nanoparticular FeSb2 was prepared in solution from cyclopentadienyl iron(ii) dicarbonyl dimer [Fe(Cp(CO)2)]2 and antimony nanoparticles. Spark plasma sintering was used as consolidation method to maintain the particle size. The thermoelectric performance of FeSb2 is limited by its high thermal conductivity. In this work, the thermal conductivity was suppressed by nearly 80% compared to the bulk value by introducing grain boundary scattering of phonons on the nanoscale. The thermoelectric properties of the consolidated FeSb2 emphasize the possibility of altering thermal transport of promising thermoelectric compounds by phonon scattering by engineering the interfaces at the nanoscale.

Anisotropic lattice thermal conductivity in topological semimetal ZrGeX (X = S, Se, Te): a first-principles study

2021

Abstract Topological semimetals have attracted significant attentions owing to their potential applications in numerous fields such as low-power electron devices and quantum computation, which are closely related to their thermal transport properties. In this work, the phonon transport properties of topological Dirac nodal-line semimetals ZrGeX (X = S, Se, Te) with the PbClF-type structures are systematically studied using the first-principles calculations combined with the Boltzmann transport theory. The obtained lattice thermal conductivities show an obvious anisotropy, which is caused by the layer structures of ZrGeX (X = S, Se, Te). The room-temperature lattice conductivity of ZrGeTe al…

Superconductor-ferromagnet tunnel junction thermoelectric bolometer and calorimeter with a SQUID readout

2020

Superconductor-ferromagnet thermoelectric detector (SFTED) is a novel ultrasensitive radiation detector based on the giant thermoelectric effect in superconductor-ferromagnet tunnel junctions. This type of detector can be operated without the need of additional bias lines, and is predicted to provide a performance rivaling transition-edge sensors and kinetic inductance detectors. Here we report our numerical studies on the SFTED noise equivalent power, energy resolution and time constant, and the feasibility of a SQUID readout in both bolometric and calorimetric regimes, with the goal to provide practical design parameters for the detector fabrication and the readout circuitry implementatio…

The fingerprint of Te-rich and stoichiometric Bi2Te3 nanowires by Raman spectroscopy

2016

We unambiguously show that the signature of Te-rich bismuth telluride is the appearance of three new peaks in the Raman spectra of Bi2Te3, located at 88, 117 and 137 cm−1 . For this purpose, we have grown stoichiometric Bi2Te3 nanowires as well as Te-rich nanowires. The absence of these peaks in stoichiometric nanowires, even in those with the smallest diameter, shows that they are not related to confinement effects or the lack of inversion symmetry, as stated in the literature, but to the existence of Te clusters. These Te clusters have been found in nonstoichiometric samples by high resolution electron microscopy, while they are absent in stoichiometric samples. The Raman spectra of the l…

Bond strength dependent superionic phase transformation in the solid solution series Cu2ZnGeSe4−xSx

2014

Recently, copper selenides have shown to be promising thermoelectric materials due to their possible superionic character resulting from mobile copper cations. Inspired by this recent development in the class of quaternary copper selenides we have focused on the structure-to-property relationships in the solid solution series Cu2ZnGeSe4−xSx. The material exhibits an insulator-to-metal transition at higher temperatures, with a transition temperature dependent on the sulfur content. However, the lattice parameters show linear thermal expansion at elevated temperatures only and therefore no indication of a structural phase transformation. 63Cu nuclear magnetic resonance shows clear indications…