Possibilities for improvement in thermoelectric refrigeration

Synthesis and structure of layered compounds in the PbTe-Bi2Te3 and PbTe-Sb2Te3 systems

“…Figure 5 displays the plots of a and c/N (average atomic-layer thickness) versus cation-to-anion ratio, x = (n + 2m)/(n + 3m), in the range x = 0.667-0.80 for nPbTe · mBi 2 Te 3 [4] and nPbTe · mSb 2 Te 3 compounds. Both a and c/N are linear functions of x, with the best fit equations a = 0.3985 + 0.0597x, (1) c/N = 0.2416 -0.0575x (2) in the PbTe-Bi 2 Te 3 system [4] and…”

“…From the relation ZT = α 2 σ T /( κ el + κ ph ), it follows that high thermoelectric performance is offered by materials combining high α and σ with low κ total . Intensive research effort is presently focused on new thermoelectric materials based on complex-structured compounds with low thermal conductivity [1,2], including AB 3 (A = Co, Ir, Rh; B = P, As, Sb) skutterudites, A 8 B 16 C 30 (A = Ba, Sr; B = Al, Ga; C = Si, Ge, Sn) clathrates, and mixed-cation chalcogenides (CsBi 4 Te 6 ) [2]. In this context, the tetradymite-like layered ternary compounds in the pseudobinary systems A IV B VI -( A IV = Ge, Sn, Pb; A V = Bi, Sb; B VI = Te) are also attractive, since these systems contain homologous series of n A IV B VI · m layered compounds, including a wide variety of mixed-layer compounds [3,4].…”

Thermoelectric properties of YMn4+xAl8−x for −2≤x≤2.5

“…Recently, much efforts have been focused on finding TM's based on complex-structured compounds, which result in low thermal conductivity, such as e.g. A 8 B 16 C 30 (A = Ba, Sr; B = Al, Ga; C = Si, Ge, Sn) clathrates [1][2][3][4][5], AB 3 (A = Co, Ir, Rh; B = P, As, Sb) skutterudites [6][7][8] and mixed-cation chalcogenides (CsBi 4 Te 6 ) [9].…”

Distributed Control to Improve Performance of Thermoelectric Coolers

“…This corresponds to a maximum COP of about 1.0. But even with these material advances, H. J. Goldsmid, postulates that the typical, commercially available TEC still has an effective ZT of only about 0.8 [32]. This deficiency is due to difficulties and inconsistencies in manufacturing the TEC itself.…”

“…The most common TEC semiconducting material currently in use is still bismuth telluride [32]. Due to improvements in manufacturing and better consistency in the bulk properties, bismuth telluride now has a nominal ZT of about 1.2.…”