Power generation from nanostructured PbTe-based thermoelectrics: comprehensive development from materials to modules

Hu, Xiang; Jood, Priyanka; Ohta, Mitsuo; Kunii, Masaru; Nagase, Kazuo; Nishiate, Hirotaka; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Yamamoto, Atsushi

doi:10.1039/c5ee02979a

Cited by 321 publications

(308 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…S6). To the best of our knowledge, this work obtains the highest power density for bulk thermoelectric materials, which can be important for power generation applications (12,23,47,48).…”

Section: Effect Of Grain Size On Lattice Thermal Conductivity and Carmentioning

confidence: 95%

Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb

Kraemer

Mao

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

237

152

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Improvements in thermoelectric material performance over the past two decades have largely been based on decreasing the phonon thermal conductivity. Enhancing the power factor has been less successful in comparison. In this work, a peak power factor of ∼106 μW·cm −1 ·K −2 is achieved by increasing the hot pressing temperature up to 1,373 K in the p-type half-Heusler Nb 0.95 Ti 0.05 FeSb. The high power factor subsequently yields a record output power density of ∼22 W·cm −2 based on a single-leg device operating at between 293 K and 868 K. Such a high-output power density can be beneficial for large-scale power generation applications.half-Heusler | thermoelectric | power factor | carrier mobility | output power density T he majority of industrial energy input is lost as waste heat. Converting some of the waste heat into useful electrical power will lead to the reduction of fossil fuel consumption and CO 2 emission. Thermoelectric (TE) technologies are unique in converting heat into electricity due to their solid-state nature. The ideal device conversion efficiency of TE materials is usually characterized by (1)where ZT is the average thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) between the hot side temperature (T H ) and the cold side temperature (T C ) of a TE material and is defined aswhere PF, T, κ tot , S, σ, κ L , κ e , and κ bip are the power factor, absolute temperature, total thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, lattice thermal conductivity, electronic thermal conductivity, and bipolar thermal conductivity, respectively. Higher ZT corresponds to higher conversion efficiency. One effective approach to enhance ZT is through nanostructuring that can significantly enhance phonon scattering and consequently result in a much lower lattice thermal conductivity compared with that of the unmodified bulk counterpart (2). This approach works well for many inorganic TE materials, such as Bi 2 Te 3 (2), IV-VI semiconductor compounds (3, 4), lead-antimony-silver-tellurium (LAST) (5), skutterudites (6), clathrates (7), CuSe 2 (8), Zintl phases (9), half-Heuslers (10-12), MgAgSb (13, 14), Mg 2 (Si, Ge, Sn) (15, 16), and others.However, nanostructuring is effective only when the grain size is comparable to or smaller than the phonon mean free path (MFP). In compounds with a phonon MFP shorter than the nanosized grain diameters, nanostructuring might impair the electron transport more than the phonon transport, thus potentially decreasing the power factor and ZT. In contrast, improving ZT by boosting the power factor has not yet been widely studied (17)(18)(19)(20). To the best of our knowledge, there is no theoretical upper limit applied to the power factor. Additionally, the output power density ω of a device with hot side at T H and cold side at T C is directly related to the power factor by (21)where L is the leg length of the TE material and PF is the averaged power factor over the leg. As contact resistance limits the reduction of length L, higher power factor favors higher power density when h...

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“…S6). To the best of our knowledge, this work obtains the highest power density for bulk thermoelectric materials, which can be important for power generation applications (12,23,47,48).…”

Section: Effect Of Grain Size On Lattice Thermal Conductivity and Carmentioning

confidence: 95%

Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb

Kraemer

Mao

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

237

152

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“…[3][4][5][6] As heat is supplied to give a temperature gradient across the constituent TE materials in the module, a potential gradient is spontaneously induced by the Seebeck effect to generate electric energy. [3][4][5][6] As heat is supplied to give a temperature gradient across the constituent TE materials in the module, a potential gradient is spontaneously induced by the Seebeck effect to generate electric energy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cu Intercalation and Br Doping to Thermoelectric SnSe₂ Lead to Ultrahigh Electron Mobility and Temperature‐Independent Power Factor

Zhou

Zhang

et al. 2019

Adv Funct Materials

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Due to its single conduction band nature, it is highly challenging to enhance the power factor of SnSe 2 by band convergence. Here, it is reported that simultaneous Cu intercalation and Br doping induce strong Cu-Br interaction to connect SnSe 2 layers, otherwise isolated, via "electrical bridges." Atom probe tomography analysis confirms a strong attraction between Cu intercalants and Br dopants in the SnSe 2 lattice. Density functional theory calculations reveal that this interaction delocalizes electrons confined around SnSe covalent bonds and enhances charge transfer across the SnSe 2 slabs. These effects dramatically increase electron mobility and concentration. Polycrystalline SnCu 0.005 Se 1.98 Br 0.02 shows even higher electron mobility than pristine SnSe 2 single crystal and the theoretical expectation. This results in significantly improved electrical conductivity without reducing effective mass and Seebeck coefficient, thereby leading to the highest power factor of ≈12 µW cm −1 K −2 to date for polycrystalline SnSe 2 and SnSe. It even surpasses the value for the state-of-the-art n-type SnSe 0.985 Br 0.015 single crystal at elevated temperatures. Surprisingly, the achieved power factor is nearly independent of temperature ranging from 300 to 773 K. The engineering thermoelectric figure of merit ZT eng for SnCu 0.005 Se 1.98 Br 0.02 is ≈0.25 between 773 and 300 K, the highest ZT eng ever reported for any form of SnSe 2 -based thermoelectric materials.

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“…Superconductive/ thermoelectric material performance can be improved by adding nanoparticles (NPs) that disrupt the order parameter/phonon density while leaving the matrix and electronic structure of the superconductor/thermoelectric intact. [1][2][3][4] In the case of thermoelectrics, the reduction of lattice thermal conductivity through phonon scattering by size-controlled NPs has been predicted in the seminal paper by Hicks and Dresselhaus. 5 This approach has already been demonstrated to be effective in metallic materials, such as Bi 2 Te 3 /Sb 2 Te 3 multilayers 6 and PbTe bulk material 1 with natural NP additions with a significant enhancement of the figure of merit (ZT) that has reached up to~2 at 800 K. In comparison with metallic materials, oxides offer the advantages of reduced cost, nontoxicity and higher stability at high temperatures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning nanoparticle size for enhanced functionality in perovskite thin films deposited by metal organic deposition

et al. 2017

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Because of pressing global environmental challenges, focus has been placed on materials for efficient energy use, and this has triggered the search for nanostructural modification methods to improve performance. Achieving a high density of tunable-sized second-phase nanoparticles while ensuring the matrix remains intact is a long-sought goal. In this paper, we present an effective, scalable method to achieve this goal using metal organic deposition in a perovskite system REBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 (rare earth (RE)) that enhances the superconducting properties to surpass that of previous achievements. We present two industrially compatible routes to tune the nanoparticle size by controlling diffusion during the nanoparticle formation stage by selecting the second-phase material and modulating the precursor composition spatially. Combining these routes leads to an extremely high density (8 × 10 22 m − 3 ) of small nanoparticles (7 nm) that increase critical currents and reduce detrimental effects of thermal fluctuations at all magnetic field strengths and temperatures. This method can be directly applied to other perovskite materials where nanoparticle addition is beneficial.

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Power generation from nanostructured PbTe-based thermoelectrics: comprehensive development from materials to modules

Abstract: In this work, we demonstrate the use of high performance nanostructured PbTe-based materials in high conversion efficiency thermoelectric modules.

Cited by 321 publications

References 69 publications

Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb

Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb

Cu Intercalation and Br Doping to Thermoelectric SnSe₂ Lead to Ultrahigh Electron Mobility and Temperature‐Independent Power Factor

Tuning nanoparticle size for enhanced functionality in perovskite thin films deposited by metal organic deposition

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Power generation from nanostructured PbTe-based thermoelectrics: comprehensive development from materials to modules

Abstract: In this work, we demonstrate the use of high performance nanostructured PbTe-based materials in high conversion efficiency thermoelectric modules.

Cited by 321 publications

References 69 publications

Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb 1-x Ti x FeSb

Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb 1-x Ti x FeSb

Cu Intercalation and Br Doping to Thermoelectric SnSe2 Lead to Ultrahigh Electron Mobility and Temperature‐Independent Power Factor

Tuning nanoparticle size for enhanced functionality in perovskite thin films deposited by metal organic deposition

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Product

Resources

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Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb

Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb

Cu Intercalation and Br Doping to Thermoelectric SnSe₂ Lead to Ultrahigh Electron Mobility and Temperature‐Independent Power Factor