The dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) in bismuth antimony telluride (BiSbTe) bulk alloys has remained around 1 for more than 50 years. We show that a peak ZT of 1.4 at 100 degrees C can be achieved in a p-type nanocrystalline BiSbTe bulk alloy. These nanocrystalline bulk materials were made by hot pressing nanopowders that were ball-milled from crystalline ingots under inert conditions. Electrical transport measurements, coupled with microstructure studies and modeling, show that the ZT improvement is the result of low thermal conductivity caused by the increased phonon scattering by grain boundaries and defects. More importantly, ZT is about 1.2 at room temperature and 0.8 at 250 degrees C, which makes these materials useful for cooling and power generation. Cooling devices that use these materials have produced high-temperature differences of 86 degrees , 106 degrees , and 119 degrees C with hot-side temperatures set at 50 degrees, 100 degrees, and 150 degrees C, respectively. This discovery sets the stage for use of a new nanocomposite approach in developing high-performance low-cost bulk thermoelectric materials.

The conversion of sunlight into electricity has been dominated by photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation. Photovoltaic cells are deployed widely, mostly as flat panels, whereas solar thermal electricity generation relying on optical concentrators and mechanical heat engines is only seen in large-scale power plants. Here we demonstrate a promising flat-panel solar thermal to electric power conversion technology based on the Seebeck effect and high thermal concentration, thus enabling wider applications. The developed solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) achieved a peak efficiency of 4.6% under AM1.5G (1 kW m(-2)) conditions. The efficiency is 7-8 times higher than the previously reported best value for a flat-panel STEG, and is enabled by the use of high-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials and spectrally-selective solar absorbers in an innovative design that exploits high thermal concentration in an evacuated environment. Our work opens up a promising new approach which has the potential to achieve cost-effective conversion of solar energy into electricity.

By ball milling alloyed bulk crystalline ingots into nanopowders and hot pressing them, we had demonstrated high figure-of-merit in nanostructured bulk bismuth antimony telluride. In this study, we use the same ball milling and hot press technique, but start with elemental chunks of bismuth, antimony, and tellurium to avoid the ingot formation step. We show that a peak ZT of about 1.3 in the temperature range of 75 and 100 degrees C has been achieved. This process is more economical and environmentally friendly than starting from alloyed bulk crystalline ingots. The ZT improvement is caused mostly by the lower thermal conductivity, similar as the case using ingot. Transmission electron microscopy observations of the microstructures suggest that the lower thermal conductivity is mainly due to the increased phonon scattering from the increased grain boundaries of the nanograins, precipitates, nanodots, and defects. Our material also exhibits a ZT of 0.7 at 250 degrees C, similar to the value obtained when ingot was used. This study demonstrates that high ZT values can be achieved in nanostructured bulk materials with ball milling elemental chunks, suggesting that the approach can be applied to other materials that are hard to be made into ingot, in addition to its advantage of lower manufacturing cost.

We introduce the concept of modulation doping in three-dimensional nanostructured bulk materials to increase the thermoelectric figure of merit. Modulation-doped samples are made of two types of nanograins (a two-phase composite), where dopants are incorporated only into one type. By band engineering, charge carriers could be separated from their parent grains and moved into undoped grains, which would result in enhanced mobility of the carriers in comparison to uniform doping due to a reduction of ionized impurity scattering. The electrical conductivity of the two-phase composite can exceed that of the individual components, leading to a higher power factor. We here demonstrate the concept via experiment using composites made of doped silicon nanograins and intrinsic silicon germanium grains.

Modulation-doping was theoretically proposed and experimentally proved to be effective in increasing the power factor of nanocomposites (Si(80)Ge(20))(70)(Si(100)B(5))(30) by increasing the carrier mobility but not the figure-of-merit (ZT) due to the increased thermal conductivity. Here we report an alternative materials design, using alloy Si(70)Ge(30) instead of Si as the nanoparticles and Si(95)Ge(5) as the matrix, to increase the power factor but not the thermal conductivity, leading to a ZT of 1.3 ± 0.1 at 900 °C.

We present detailed studies of potassium doping in PbTe(1-y)Se(y) (y = 0, 0.15, 0.25, 0.75, 0.85, 0.95, and 1). It was found that Se increases the doping concentration of K in PbTe as a result of the balance of electronegativity and also lowers the lattice thermal conductivity because of the increased number of point defects. Tuning the composition and carrier concentration to increase the density of states around the Fermi level results in higher Seebeck coefficients for the two valence bands of PbTe(1-y)Se(y). Peak thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) values of ~1.6 and ~1.7 were obtained for Te-rich K(0.02)Pb(0.98)Te(0.75)Se(0.25) at 773 K and Se-rich K(0.02)Pb(0.98)Te(0.15)Se(0.85) at 873 K, respectively. However, the average ZT was higher in Te-rich compositions than in Se-rich compositions, with the best found in K(0.02)Pb(0.98)Te(0.75)Se(0.25). Such a result is due to the improved electron transport afforded by heavy K doping with the assistance of Se.

An ionic liquid (IL) trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate has been investigated as a potential antiwear lubricant additive. Unlike most other ILs that have very low solubility in nonpolar fluids, this IL is fully miscible with various hydrocarbon oils. In addition, it is thermally stable up to 347 °C, showed no corrosive attack to cast iron in an ambient environment, and has excellent wettability on solid surfaces (e.g., contact angle on cast iron <8°). Most importantly, this phosphonium-based IL has demonstrated effective antiscuffing and antiwear characteristics when blended with lubricating oils. For example, a 5 wt % addition into a synthetic base oil eliminated the scuffing failure experienced in neat oil and, as a result, reduced the friction coefficient by 60% and the wear rate by 3 orders of magnitude. A synergistic effect on wear protection was observed with the current antiwear additive when added into a fully formulated engine oil. Nanostructure examination and composition analysis revealed a tribo-boundary film and subsurface plastic deformation zone for the metallic surface lubricated by the IL-containing lubricants. This protective boundary film is believed to be responsible for the IL's antiscuffing and antiwear functionality.

By adding aluminium (Al) into lead selenide (PbSe), we successfully prepared n-type PbSe thermoelectric materials with a figure-of-merit (ZT) of 1.3 at 850 K. Such high ZT is achieved by a combination of high Seebeck coefficient caused by very possibly the resonant states in the conduction band created by Al dopant and low thermal conductivity from nanosized phonon scattering centers. Broader contextThermoelectric devices directly convert heat to electricity, thus they are important for harvesting natural heat as well as waste heat. For efficient devices, high figure-of-merit (ZT) materials are desired. We report here n-type lead selenide (PbSe) thermoelectric materials with ZT of 1.3 at 850 K. These materials are prepared by adding aluminium (Al) in PbSe during ball milling and hot pressing. Al, as a dopant in PbSe, possibly creates resonant states in the conduction band and causes increase in the local density of states (DOS) near the Fermi level. As a result, the Seebeck coefficients of Al added PbSe samples are about 40~100% higher than the predicted values by the simple parabolic band model and about 40% higher than the Cl-doped reference PbSe sample without resonant states. Furthermore, using ball milling and hot pressing technique, the structure of our samples contains features such as Pb depleted discs, small grains, and ~10 nm subgrains that are effective for phonon scattering, and result in a much lower lattice thermal conductivity of 0.6~0.7 Wm