Thermoelectric Properties of Half-Heusler Bismuthides ZrCo<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Ni<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Bi (<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis> = 0.0 to 0.1)

The usefulness of half-Heusler (HH) alloys as thermoelectrics has been mainly limited by their relatively large thermal conductivity, which is a key issue despite their high thermoelectric power factors. In this regard, Bi-containing half-Heusler alloys are particularly appealing, because they are, potentially, of low thermal conductivity. One such a material is ZrCoBi. We prepared pure and Ni-doped ZrCoBi by a solid-state reaction. To evaluate thermoelectric potential we measured electrical resistivity (ρ = 1/σ) and thermopower (σ) up to 1000 K and thermal conductivity (κ) up to 300 K. Our measurements indicate that for these alloys resistivity of approximately a few mΩ cm and thermopower larger than a hundred μV K⁻¹ are possible. Low κ values are also possible. On the basis of these data we conclude that this system has a potential to be optimized further, despite the low power factors (α ² σT) we have currently measured.     

Donor–Acceptor-Type Organic-Small-Molecule-Based Solar-Energy-Absorbing Material for Highly Efficient Water Evaporation and Thermoelectric Power Generation

Recently, owing to the great structural tunability, excellent photothermal property, and strong photobleaching resistance, organic-small-molecule photothermal materials are proposed as promising solar absorbent materials. Herein, through fusing two strong electron-withdrawing units dibenzo[f,h]quinoxaline and anthraquinone units, a rigid planar acceptor dibenzo[a,c]naphtho[2,3-h]phenazine-8,13-dione (PDN) with stronger electron-withdrawing ability is obtained and used to construct donor–acceptor-type organic-small-molecule solar-energy-absorbing material, 2,17-bis(diphenylamino)dibenzo[a,c]naphtho[2,3-h]phenazine-8,13-dione (DDPA-PDN). The new compound exhibits a strong intramolecular charge transfer character and conjugates rigid plane skeleton, endowing it with a broadband optical absorption from 300 to 850 nm in the solid state, favorable photothermal properties, high photothermal conversion ability, and good photobleaching resistance. Under laser irradiation at 655 nm, the solid photothermal conversion efficiency of the resulting DDPA-PDN molecule reaches 56.23%. Additionally, DDPA-PDN-loaded cellulose papers equipped with abundant microchannels for water flow are integrated with thermoelectric devices, thus achieving an evaporation rate and voltage as high as 1.07 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ and 83 mV under 1 kW m⁻² solar irradiation, respectively. This study demonstrates the application of photothermal organic-small-molecules in water evaporation and power generation, therefore offering a valuable prospect of their utilization in solar energy harvesting.     

Yb和Ni共掺杂对α-MgAgSb室温热电材料的性能调控研究

单一Yb元素掺杂能有效提升α-MgAgSb室温热电材料的热电性能,但Yb元素在α-MgAgSb中较小的固溶度严重限制性能的进一步提升。本文采用Yb和Ni共掺杂来适当增加Yb掺杂元素的固溶度,提高α-MgAgSb的热电性能。结果表明,Yb和Ni原子质量和大小差异均会引起声子散射,极大地降低了α-MgAgSb的热导率,而且Yb和Ni共掺杂能延后双极效应。通过Yb和Ni共掺杂,α-MgAgSb的热电优值峰值达到1.05。     

热电材料的研究进展

随着热电材料与薄膜制备技术和性能研究手段的发展,具有高热电性能的热电薄膜和低维结构受到人们关注。目前,国内外研究主要集中在如何提高热电材料的能量转换率等核心技术问题上。介绍了热电材料的理论背景、材料分类、制备手段和热电性质的表征,其中,制备手段及热电性质表征主要以Bi2Te3基热电材料展开论述。最后,对热电材料的发展和未来研究方向进行总结。     

Addressing the Challenges of Commercializing New Thermoelectric Materials

The time it takes for new thermoelectric materials to make the transition from first announcement in peer-reviewed publications to commercialization is undesirably long. As a result, universities, laboratories, government agencies, commercial users, and venture funding providers throughout the world have not supported research in the field to the level that would be expected for such an otherwise promising technology. This delay also has led to some misdirection of research efforts and a lack of availability of dependable long-term sponsorship commitments to research in the field. From the perspective of commercial users, this presentation discusses the challenges that the thermoelectric material research community faces in creating materials of commercial value. These challenges are broken down into objectives for both the traditional research activities related to improving ZT and those efforts needed to satisfy other, less recognized requirements which, if unaddressed, can significantly impede or even prevent commercialization. The ZT thresholds that enable much larger markets are presented for power generation, cooling, heating, and temperature control materials. Other important considerations, including semiconductor to metal interface (metallization) properties, material stability and constituent requirements, and costs and environmental-impact-related requirements are discussed. At the system level, factors that impede material development are identified, including challenges arising from a lack of property measurement repeatability among different organizations. Approaches and results are compared with that of the more heavily funded and rapidly developing photovoltaic field. The presentation concludes with recommendations for measures to accelerate thermoelectric material commercialization. International Conference on Thermoelectrics (August 3–7, 2008, Corvallis, Oregon, USA).     

制备工艺对新型热电材料制冷性能的影响

通过取点法得到了由Ingot法、BM法、S-MS法和Te-MS法制备的四种新型p型热电材料(Bi0.5Sb1.5)Te3的变物性参数拟合公式,分析了温度对不同方法制备的热电材料的影响,得到了热电材料无量纲优值与绝对温度的关系曲线.从热力学方面研究了制备工艺对基于新型热电材料的热电制冷器最大制冷系数的影响.结果表明:由Te-MS法制备的新型p型热电材料(Bi0.5Sb1.5)Te3具有最大的优值系数,基于该材料的热电制冷器最大制冷系数可达2.49,较其他三种方法制备的热电材料分别提升了 34.59％,37.57％和25.76％.