Review of Development Status of Bi₂Te₃‐Based Semiconductor Thermoelectric Power Generation

Abstract

Semiconductor thermoelectric power generation is a new type of energy-saving and environment-friendly power generation technology, which directly converts heat energy into electrical energy by using the characteristics of semiconductor thermoelectric materials and has broad application prospects. This paper introduces the basic principles of thermoelectric materials and semiconductor thermoelectric power generation. The research status and progress of Bi2Te3-based semiconductor materials and thermoelectric generators in recent years are also introduced, respectively. Then, the paper emphasizes the research status of low temperature difference semiconductor power generation and points out the future development directions.

Bi-doped SnO2 transparent conducting thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis: structural, electrical, optical, and photo-thermoelectric properties

“…Therefore, to increase the thermoelectric e ciency of a composite material, it is necessary to consider high S and σ values and low κ values. However, one of the problems related to the e ciency of thermoelectric materials is the coordination of electrical and thermal conductivity due to the ZT relationship, which affects the capabilities of thermoelectric materials [41]. In general, the scattering of phonons in the lattice reduces the thermal conductivity, and the addition of n or p type semiconductors to the oxide material can be effective in increasing/decreasing the electrical conductivity of the composite material.…”

International Round Robin Test of Thermoelectric Generator Modules

“…Many works investigated the improvement of the functional stability of Bi 2 Te 3 using adapted temperature treatments [19][20][21] or by the altering of compositions [22][23][24]. Although measurements of the material figure of merit zT > 1 (zT = S p−n 2 •σ p−n /κ p−n , with σ p−n , κ p−n being the electric and thermal conductivities of pand n-type TE materials) have been demonstrated for Bi 2 Te 3 up to hot side temperatures of 500 • C [25], the application of commercial Bi 2 Te 3 -TEMs remained below 300 • C [26], which is related to the limited stability of Bi 2 Te 3 and the contacting of this material. Progress on contacting technologies and the improvement of high-temperature TE materials revealed mature TEM prototypes [27][28][29] and enabled the establishment of small batch production by industries [30][31][32][33].…”

Application of Materials Genome Methods in Thermoelectrics

“…TE materials are even expected to be used in wearable devices (Petsagkourakis et al, 2018). Bi 2 Te 3 is the only compound currently used commercially as a TE material (Chen et al, 2018;Mamur et al, 2018). Therefore, methods of improving the TE performance and finding more TE materials for use in practical applications is a critical challenge.…”