Selective Dissolution-Derived Nanoporous Design of Impurity-Free Bi2Te3 Alloys with High Thermoelectric Performance

Thermoelectric technology, which has been receiving attention as a sustainable energy source, has limited applications because of its relatively low conversion efficiency. To broaden their application scope, thermoelectric materials require a high dimensionless figure of merit (ZT). Porous structuring of a thermoelectric material is a promising approach to enhance ZT by reducing its thermal conductivity. However, nanopores do not form in thermoelectric materials in a straightforward manner; impurities are also likely to be present in thermoelectric materials. Here, a simple but effective way to synthesize impurity-free nanoporous Bi_0.4Sb_1.6Te₃ via the use of nanoporous raw powder, which is scalably formed by the selective dissolution of KCl after collision between Bi_0.4Sb_1.6Te₃ and KCl powders, is proposed. This approach creates abundant nanopores, which effectively scatter phonons, thereby reducing the lattice thermal conductivity by 33% from 0.55 to 0.37 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹. Benefitting from the optimized porous structure, porous Bi_0.4Sb_1.6Te₃ achieves a high ZT of 1.41 in the temperature range of 333–373 K, and an excellent average ZT of 1.34 over a wide temperature range of 298–473 K. This study provides a facile and scalable method for developing high thermoelectric performance Bi₂Te₃-based alloys that can be further applied to other thermoelectric materials.     

Modulation of Vacancy Defects and Texture for High Performance n-Type Bi2Te3 via High Energy Refinement

The carrier concentration in n-type layered Bi₂Te₃-based thermoelectric (TE) material is significantly impacted by the donor-like effect, which would be further intensified by the nonbasal slip during grain refinement of crushing, milling, and deformation, inducing a big challenge to improve its TE performance and mechanical property simultaneously. In this work, high-energy refinement and hot-pressing are used to stabilize the carrier concentration due to the facilitated recovery of cation and anion vacancies. Based on this, combined with SbI₃ doping and hot deformation, the optimized carrier concentration and high texture degree are simultaneously realized. As a result, a peak figure of merit (zT) of 1.14 at 323 K for Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 + 0.05 wt.% SbI₃ sample with the high bending strength of 100 Mpa is obtained. Furthermore, a 31-couple thermoelectric cooling device consisted of n-type Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 + 0.05 wt.% SbI₃ and commercial p-type Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ legs is fabricated, which generates the large maximum temperature difference (ΔT_max) of 85 K at a hot-side temperature of 343 K. Thus, the discovery of recovery effect in high energy refinement and hot-pressing has significant implications for improving TE performance and mechanical strength of n-type Bi₂Te₃, thereby promoting its applications in harsh conditions.     

Manipulating the Interfacial Band Bending For Enhancing the Thermoelectric Properties of 1T′-MoTe2/Bi2Te3 Superlattice Films

Interfacial charge effects, such as band bending, modulation doping, and energy filtering, are critical for improving electronic transport properties of superlattice films. However, effectively manipulating interfacial band bending has proven challenging in previous studies. In this study, (1T′-MoTe₂)_x(Bi₂Te₃)_y superlattice films with symmetry-mismatch were successfully fabricated via the molecular beam epitaxy. This enables to manipulate the interfacial band bending, thereby optimizing the corresponding thermoelectric performance. These results demonstrate that the increase of Te/Bi flux ratio (R) effectively tailored interfacial band bending, resulting in a reduction of the interfacial electric potential from ≈127 meV at R = 16 to ≈73 meV at R = 8. It is further verified that a smaller interfacial electric potential is more beneficial for optimizing the electronic transport properties of (1T′-MoTe₂)_x(Bi₂Te₃)_y. Especially, the (1T′-MoTe₂)₁(Bi₂Te₃)₁₂ superlattice film displays the highest thermoelectric power factor of 2.72 mW m⁻¹ K⁻² among all films, due to the synergy of modulation doping, energy filtering, and the manipulation of band bending. Moreover, the lattice thermal conductivity of the superlattice films is significantly reduced. This work provides valuable guidance to manipulate the interfacial band bending and further enhance the thermoelectric performances of superlattice films.     

Density-Dependence of Surface Transport in Tellurium-Enriched Nanograined Bulk Bi2Te3

Three-dimensional topological insulators (3D TI) exhibit conventional parabolic bulk bands and protected Dirac surface states. A thorough investigation of the different transport channels provided by the bulk and surface carriers using macroscopic samples may provide a path toward accessing superior surface transport properties. Bi₂Te₃ materials make promising 3D TI models; however, due to their complicated defect chemistry, these materials have a high number of charge carriers in the bulk that dominate the transport, even as nanograined structures. To partially control the bulk charge carrier density, herein the synthesis of Te-enriched Bi₂Te₃ nanoparticles is reported. The resulting nanoparticles are compacted into nanograined pellets of varying porosity to tailor the surface-to-volume ratio, thereby emphasizing the surface transport channels. The nanograined pellets are characterized by a combination of resistivity, Hall- and magneto-conductance measurements together with (THz) time-domain reflectivity measurements. Using the Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka (HLN) model, a characteristic coherence length of ≈200 nm is reported that is considerably larger than the diameter of the nanograins. The different contributions from the bulk and surface carriers are disentangled by THz spectroscopy, thus emphasizing the dominant role of the surface carriers. The results strongly suggest that the surface transport carriers have overcome the hindrance imposed by nanoparticle boundaries.     

胶结型天然裂缝对水力裂缝影响的数值计算模型及机理

页岩等非常规储层中富含由矿物填充的胶结型天然裂缝,水力裂缝与胶结型天然裂缝间的相互作用机制是控制复杂裂缝网络形成的关键。基于流动-变形耦合的内聚力模型,采用断裂能参数对天然裂缝胶结强度进行简化表征,建立了水力裂缝与胶结型天然裂缝间相互作用的数值模型。通过与单条水力裂缝极限情况渐进解对比,验证了该方法的可行性。在此基础上,研究了地应力、逼近角、胶结强度比以及压裂液黏度和注入速率等因素对水力/天然裂缝相互作用的影响。研究结果表明：水平地应力差与最小水平地应力共同控制着水力裂缝的穿越行为;地应力差相同,最小水平地应力不同,水力裂缝最终几何形态及缝内压力分布可能不同;逼近角越小,水力裂缝越容易转向沿天然裂缝扩展;胶结强度比越大,水力裂缝越不容易转向沿天然裂缝扩展;忽略缝内流体滤失,相同的注入速率和流体黏度的乘积会导致相似的裂缝几何形状及注入点压力变化。裂缝尖端前缘区域形成低孔隙压力区与内聚力区大小有关：内聚力区越小,孔隙压力越低。     

超细WC-Co硬质合金的磁性能和金相分析

介绍了超细WC-Co硬质合金的磁性能和金相,对它们之间的关系和作用进行了比较分析,认为磁性能和金相是超细WC-Co硬质合金质量控制的重要检测方法。     

显微CT试验技术与花岗岩热破裂特征的细观研究

详细介绍太原理工大学与中国工程物理研究院应用电子学研究所共同研制的μCT225kVFCB型高精度显微CT试验系统的结构与工作原理,该试验机的最大功率为320 W,放大倍数为1～400倍,可分辨1～2 μm大小的孔隙及裂隙,为金属及非金属材料的细观试验分析提供了更高精度的试验设备.采用该系统进行花岗岩在常温到500℃高温下的三维细观破裂显微观测,揭示出花岗岩晶体颗粒尺寸为100～300 μm的不规则空间结构体.热作用下,随温度升高,花岗岩的热破裂逐渐演化与发展,200℃时,已可见到极少数很小的微裂纹出现.300℃时,部分裂纹搭接形成较大裂纹,裂纹长度增加10倍左右.500℃时,包围花岗岩晶体颗粒的封闭多边形裂纹几乎全部形成,使花岗岩呈现糜棱状的晶体颗粒结构体,90%以上是沿岩石颗粒周边弱的胶结界面上发生的.仅有极少数热破裂裂纹是穿越岩石颗粒的,其概率在10%以下.     

住宅室内自然采光的科学问题研究

介绍了自然采光的光源——太阳相对地球的运动规律,以及它与日照的关系。为了阻挡过于强烈的阳光,保持适宜的室内采光,引述了窗户的尺寸设计,阳光控制装置,室内围护结构及室内隔阻结构的设计。     

硬质合金复合辊环复合工艺的研究进展

概述了国内外硬质合金辊环、硬质合金复合辊环的发展情况及其开发研究意义.系统综述了国内外复合辊环的研究进展、优异性能及使用现状;分析了其中存在的问题,并展望了复合辊环研究的发展前景.     

Temperature-gradient lpe growth of Pbl-x Snx Te

An apparatus has been constructed for liquid-phase epitaxy that permits the application of a strong temperature gradient normal to the substrate-solution interface with minimal, unwanted gradients in other directions. A morphology problem with growth of Pb_l-xSn_xTe alloys on PbTe substrates slightly misorientated from the (100) plane has been used to test the induced temperature gradient growth. No improvement is found over growth with a conventional LPE slider, and very large gradients cause a deterioration in morphology and growth stability. A small systematic variation of the Sn/Pb ratio in the grown layers with rate of cooling is found, but no variation with temperature gradient can be detected. Thus, contrary to our conjecture made before this study, the presence or absence of an induced temperature gradient cannot be used to explain the systematic differences between the data of different workers for the liquid-solid tie-line behavior of the Pb-Sn-Te system. This work was sponsored by the Department of the Air Force.