Thermoelectric power generation: from new materials to devices

Tan, Gangjian; Ohta, Mitsuo; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.

doi:10.1098/rsta.2018.0450

Cited by 133 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 184 publications

(329 reference statements)

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“…Please note that the utilization of thermoelectric materials in a device comes alongside additional important tasks such as contact resistivity and the variation in thermoelectric properties in an applied temperature gradient. It has been emphasized that for a thermoelectric device, the average properties, such as the average zT , within the respective temperature range are the key parameters instead of the peak properties [ 43 , 44 , 45 ]. As mentioned, within this review, the discussed thermoelectric compounds will only be evaluated at their respective material level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Power Factor vs. High zT—A Review of Thermoelectric Materials for High-Temperature Application

Wolf

Hinterding

Feldhoff

2019

Entropy

134

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Energy harvesting with thermoelectric materials has been investigated with increasing attention over recent decades. However, the vast number of various material classes makes it difficult to maintain an overview of the best candidates. Thus, we revitalize Ioffe plots as a useful tool for making the thermoelectric properties of a material obvious and easily comparable. These plots enable us to consider not only the efficiency of the material by the figure of merit zT but also the power factor and entropy conductivity as separate parameters. This is especially important for high-temperature applications, where a critical look at the impact of the power factor and thermal conductivity is mandatory. Thus, this review focuses on material classes for high-temperature applications and emphasizes the best candidates within the material classes of oxides, oxyselenides, Zintl phases, half-Heusler compounds, and SiGe alloys. An overall comparison between these material classes with respect to either a high efficiency or a high power output is discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Power Factor vs. High zT—A Review of Thermoelectric Materials for High-Temperature Application

Wolf

Hinterding

Feldhoff

2019

Entropy

134

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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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“…PbTe and PbSe are known to be excellent thermoelectric materials and many studies focused on different aspects playing a role in their good performance. [36][37][38] This study highlights the importance of the unique degree of electron-sharing and transfer characteristic for metavalent materials, which is also important for the thermoelectric performance since it determines the magnitude of the Seebeck coefficient (S = 0 for metals, i.e., the electrons are too delocalized for a high performance) and the electrical conductivity (insulators, where the electrons are too localized, possess a large Seebeck coefficient, but have too low electrical conductivities to compete with highperformance thermoelectrics). [8,39] PbTe and Bi 2 Te 3 (also metavalent) [19] are the two leading thermoelectric materials in both research and development (cf.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovering Electron‐Transfer‐Driven Changes in Chemical Bonding in Lead Chalcogenides (PbX, where X = Te, Se, S, O)

et al. 2020

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Understanding chemical bonding is of significant interest since it allows us to comprehend and tailor certain material properties, [1,2] which could be utilized, e.g., to optimize phase-change materials (PCMs) [3-7] or thermoelectrics. [8,9] The first steps to understand the nature of the chemical bond were already taken almost a century ago by Linus Pauling [10] and others. [11,12] In the meantime, enormous developments have taken place in both, quantum-mechanical and experimental techniques, [13-15] which help us to explore chemical bonding with unprecedented detail. Recently, these advances have also led to the concept of metavalent bonding (MVB), describing a bonding mechanism in between electron delocalization (i.e., metallic bonding) and electron localization at the ion cores (i.e., ionic bonding) as well as within the interatomic region (i.e., covalent bonding). [16-18] Metavalent bonding has been categorized by combining both quantummechanical and experimentally accessible bonding descriptors. [16-18] The Understanding the nature of chemical bonding in solids is crucial to comprehend the physical and chemical properties of a given compound. To explore changes in chemical bonding in lead chalcogenides (PbX, where X = Te, Se, S, O), a combination of property-, bond-breaking-, and quantummechanical bonding descriptors are applied. The outcome of the explorations reveals an electron-transfer-driven transition from metavalent bonding in PbX (X = Te, Se, S) to iono-covalent bonding in β-PbO. Metavalent bonding is characterized by adjacent atoms being held together by sharing about a single electron (ES ≈ 1) and small electron transfer (ET). The transition from metavalent to iono-covalent bonding manifests itself in clear changes in these quantum-mechanical descriptors (ES and ET), as well as in property-based descriptors (i.e., Born effective charge (Z*), dielectric function ε(ω), effective coordination number (ECoN), and mode-specific Grüneisen parameter (γ TO)), and in bond-breaking descriptors. Metavalent bonding collapses if significant charge localization occurs at the ion cores (ET) and/or in the interatomic region (ES). Predominantly changing the degree of electron transfer opens possibilities to tailor material properties such as the chemical bond (Z*) and electronic (ε ∞) polarizability, optical bandgap, and optical interband transitions characterized by ε 2 (ω). Hence, the insights gained from this study highlight the technological relevance of the concept of metavalent bonding and its potential for materials design.

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Thermoelectric power generation: from new materials to devices

Cited by 133 publications

References 184 publications

High Power Factor vs. High zT—A Review of Thermoelectric Materials for High-Temperature Application

High Power Factor vs. High zT—A Review of Thermoelectric Materials for High-Temperature Application

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

Discovering Electron‐Transfer‐Driven Changes in Chemical Bonding in Lead Chalcogenides (PbX, where X = Te, Se, S, O)

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Thermoelectric power generation: from new materials to devices

Cited by 133 publications

References 184 publications

High Power Factor vs. High zT—A Review of Thermoelectric Materials for High-Temperature Application

High Power Factor vs. High zT—A Review of Thermoelectric Materials for High-Temperature Application

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

Discovering Electron‐Transfer‐Driven Changes in Chemical Bonding in Lead Chalcogenides (PbX, where X = Te, Se, S, O)

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