Bismuth Telluride Thermoelectrics with 8% Module Efficiency for Waste Heat Recovery Application

IScience
Amin NozariasbmarzShashank Priya

Abstract

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) offer cost-effective and sustainable solid-state energy conversion mechanism from wasted heat into useful electrical power. Thermoelectric (TE) materials based upon bismuth telluride (BiTe) systems are widely utilized in applications ranging from energy generation to sensing to cooling. There is demand for BiTe materials with high figure of merit (zT) and TEG modules with high conversion efficiency over intermediate temperatures (25°C-250°C). Here we provide fundamental breakthrough in design of BiTe-based TE materials and utilize them to demonstrate modules with outstanding conversion efficiency of 8%, which is 40% higher compared with state-of-the-art commercial modules. The average zT of 1.08 for p-type and 0.84 for n-type bismuth telluride alloys is obtained between 25 and 250°C. The significant enhancement in zT is achieved through compositional and defect engineering in both p- and n-type materials. The high conversion efficiency accelerates the transition of TEGs for waste heat recovery.

References

Jan 26, 2008·Nature Materials·G Jeffrey Snyder, Eric S Toberer
Sep 22, 2012·Nature·Kanishka BiswasMercouri G Kanatzidis
Oct 18, 2012·Advanced Materials·Yanzhong PeiG J Snyder
Mar 28, 2013·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Shien-Ping FengGang Chen
Apr 10, 2015·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Gangjian TanMercouri G Kanatzidis
Nov 20, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ran HeZhifeng Ren
Jun 29, 2018·Nature Communications·Hangtian ZhuZhifeng Ren
Apr 18, 2019·Nature Communications·Ravi Anant KishoreShashank Priya
Oct 3, 2019·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Amin NozariasbmarzShashank Priya
Feb 11, 2020·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Ravi Anant KishoreShashank Priya

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