Design of diffusion barrier and buffer layers for β-Zn4Sb3 mid-temperature thermoelectric modules

Suppression of Interfacial Diffusion in Mg3Sb2 Thermoelectric Materials through an Mg4.3Sb3Ni/Mg3.2Sb2Y0.05/Mg4.3Sb3Ni-Graded Structure

“…Similarly, the figure of merit, zT , of the material is also modified such that ZT Device = zT Material · L /( L + 2ρ c · σ), where L and σ are the length and the electrical conductivity of the thermoelectric leg, respectively, and ρ c is the electrical contact resistivity. Contributing to lower η values are such items as severe interface elemental diffusion or reaction and mismatch in work functions (WF) or in the thermal expansion coefficients (CTE). − Selecting alloy electrodes or adding barrier materials that can effectively inhibit the diffusion of interface elements or reduce the degree of mismatch for CTE and WF are currently utilized in optimization methods. ,− …”

Validation of commercial Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric generator modules for application as metrological reference samples

“…The degradation of functional TEM properties is a complex and ongoing field of research, which gave proof of a variety of possible reasons for module deterioration like for instance thermo-mechanically induced contact failure [58,59,60], material evaporation [61], oxidation [62], evolution of microstructures and phase transformations [63,64] or contact diffusion [65,66,67]. However, most of the reported investigations on TEM stability point out to temperature-induced module degradation mechanisms.…”