Nanostructured Thermoelectrics: Big Efficiency Gains from Small Features

Vineis, C.J.; Shakouri, Ali; Majumdar, Arun; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.

doi:10.1002/adma.201000839

Cited by 1,310 publications

(989 citation statements)

References 94 publications

(89 reference statements)

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“…16,19,29 The Ag 2 Te precipitates are nanometer sized in one direction but micron-size in the other directions, which is larger than those generally observed in PbTe/AgSbTe 2 and its analogs. 9,30 No Ag 2 Te precipitates smaller than $50 nm could be found in PbTe/Ag 2 Te system with similar synthesis conditions. 16 Similar to PbTe:Na, 4 Na is found to be an effective p-type dopant in PbTe/Ag 2 Te as indicated by the Hall coefficient (R H ) and Seebeck coefficient measurements.…”

Section: Broader Contextmentioning

confidence: 88%

Combination of large nanostructures and complex band structure for high performance thermoelectric lead telluride

Pei

Heinz

LaLonde

et al. 2011

Energy Environ. Sci.

162

112

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The complexity of the valence band structure in p-type PbTe has been shown to enable a significant enhancement of the average thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) when heavily doped with Na. It has also been shown that when PbTe is nanostructured with large nanometer sized Ag 2 Te precipitates there is an enhancement of zT due to phonon scattering at the interfaces. The enhancement in zT resulting from these two mechanisms is of similar magnitude but, in principle, decoupled from one another. This work experimentally demonstrates a successful combination of the complexity in the valence band structure with the addition of nanostructuring to create a high performance thermoelectric material. These effects lead to a high zT over a wide temperature range with peak zT > 1.5 at T > 650 K in Na-doped PbTe/Ag 2 Te. This high average zT produces 30% higher efficiency (300-750 K) than pure Na-doped PbTe because of the nanostructures, while the complex valence band structure leads to twice the efficiency as the related n-type La-doped PbTe/Ag 2 Te without such band structure complexity. Thermoelectric (TE) applications have attracted increasing interest in the last decade as a means to combat the ever growing rate of energy consumption throughout the world. The two main applications for thermoelectric materials are power generation, which utilizes the Seebeck effect, and solid state cooling, which has its roots in the Peltier effect. In recent years, thermoelectric power generation has been a prime interest to the automotive industry 1 as a sustainable and emission free route to vehicular waste heat recovery. The effectiveness of this process is restricted by the overall efficiency of the thermoelectric materials.On a materials level, the efficiency of the thermal to electrical energy conversion is determined by the thermoelectric figure of, where S, s, k E and k L are the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and the electronic and lattice components of the thermal conductivity. Since S, s and k E have an intimate relationship with the carrier density, 1,2 the grand challenge in designing thermoelectric materials is the decoupling of electronic and thermal properties. Many methods to achieve a large power factor (S 2 s) or to reduce the thermal conductivity were proven to be successful, but combination of these two effects is difficult. As a result, the current best commercially available thermoelectric materials have a peak zT near unity.A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain high zT in p-type PbTe. The Tl-doping in PbTe:Tl produces resonant electronic states that enhances the Seebeck coefficient, but reduces hole mobility 3 and has zT $ 1.4 at 500 C. Na-doped PbTe:Na, 4 without resonant states, 5,6 has similarly high zT that Materials Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA. E-mail: jsnyder@caltech.edu Broader contextThermoelectric generators, which directly convert heat into electricity are being considered for industrial or automotive waste heat recovery. However, th...

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Section: Broader Contextmentioning

confidence: 88%

Combination of large nanostructures and complex band structure for high performance thermoelectric lead telluride

Pei

Heinz

LaLonde

et al. 2011

Energy Environ. Sci.

162

112

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“…Many thermoelectric materials have been identified till now, such as Bi 2 Te 3 , skutterudites Co 4 Sb 12 , SiGe alloys, PbTe, et al 180,181 High ZT can be achieved either by increasing the thermoelectric power-factor (S 2 σ ) or by decreasing thermal conductivity. Both methods can be realized via nanostructuring.…”

Section: Enhancement Of Thermoelectric Efficiency In Nano Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal transport in nanostructures

et al. 2012

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This review summarizes recent studies of thermal transport in nanoscaled semiconductors. Different from bulk materials, new physics and novel thermal properties arise in low dimensional nanostructures, such as the abnormal heat conduction, the size dependence of thermal conductivity, phonon boundary/edge scatterings. It is also demonstrated that phonons transport super-diffusively in low dimensional structures, in other words, Fourier's law is not applicable. Based on manipulating phonons, we also discuss envisioned applications of nanostructures in a broad area, ranging from thermoelectrics, heat dissipation to phononic devices.

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“…Compared with that of pure HMS, κ tot of the (HMS) 0.995 (MnS) 0.005 composite decreased by about 20% from 3.03 to 2.42 W m −1 K −1 at 823 K (Figure 4A, black and red lines). Violent scatterings possibly occurred on phonons with short wavelength because of the rapidly increased dislocations and point defects,40, 41 which resulted from lattice mismatch between MnS and HMS. κ tot continued to decrease to 2.1 and 2.0 W m −1 K −1 at 823 K when additional MnS was used (1.0 and 2.0 at%, Figure 4A, blue and pink lines, respectively).…”

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confidence: 99%

MnS Incorporation into Higher Manganese Silicide Yields a Green Thermoelectric Composite with High Performance/Price Ratio

Dong

Sun

et al. 2018

Advanced Science

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Thermoelectric materials that can directly convert heat to electrical energy offer a viable solution for reducing the usage of fossil energy by harvesting waste heat resources. Higher manganese silicide (HMS) is a naturally abundant, eco‐friendly, and low‐cost p‐type thermoelectric semiconductor with high power factor (PF); however, its figure of merit (ZT) is limited by intrinsically high thermal conductivity (κ). For effectively enhancing the thermoelectric performance of HMS and avoiding the use of expensive or toxic elements, such as Re, Te, or Pb, a green p‐type MnS with high Seebeck coefficient (S) and low κ is incorporated into the HMS matrix to form MnS/HMS composites. The incorporation of MnS leads to a 31% reduction of κ and a 10% increase of S. The ZT value increases by ≈48% from 0.40 to 0.59 at 823 K. Correspondingly, performance/price ratio is first proposed to evaluate the practical value of thermoelectric materials, which is higher than those of the vast majority of current thermoelectric materials. This study provides an overview of enhancing ZT of HMS and reducing costs, which may also be applicable to other thermoelectric materials.

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Nanostructured Thermoelectrics: Big Efficiency Gains from Small Features

Cited by 1,310 publications

References 94 publications

Combination of large nanostructures and complex band structure for high performance thermoelectric lead telluride

Combination of large nanostructures and complex band structure for high performance thermoelectric lead telluride

Thermal transport in nanostructures

MnS Incorporation into Higher Manganese Silicide Yields a Green Thermoelectric Composite with High Performance/Price Ratio

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