• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2017

Thermoelectric power generation (TEG) technology with high figure of merit (ZT) has become the need of the modern world. TEG is a potent technology which can tackle most of the environmental issues such as global warming, change in climatic conditions over the globe, and for burning out of various resources of non-renewable energy like as petroleum deposits and gasolines. Although thermoelectric materials generally convert the heat energy from wastes to electricity according to the theories Seebeck and Peltier effects yet they have not been fully exploited to realize their potential. Researchers are focusing mainly on how to improve the current ZT value from 1 to 2 or even 3 by various approaches. However, a higher ZT value is found to be difficult due to complex thermoelectric properties of materials. Hence, there is a need for developing materials with high figure of merit. Recently, various nanotechnological approaches have been incorporated to improve the thermoelectric properties of materials. In this review paper, the authors have performed a thorough literature survey of various kinds of TEG technology.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2020

Thermoelectric Bi₂Te₃ thin films were synthesized by a co-sputtering method at 300℃. A Fe dopant was considered to enhance the thermoelectric properties of the system. The Seebeck coefficient of the Fe-doped films increased whereas the electrical conductivity decreased. As a result, the power factor of the system increased owing to the enhanced Seebeck coefficient. Grain growth inhibition was detected in the Fe-doped system, which produced more grain boundaries in the Fe-doped films than in the undoped system. The increased grain boundary scattering was deemed to be effective for a reduced thermal conductivity. This is advantageous for the preparation of high-performance thermoelectric films.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2010

Carbon-nanotube-embedded bismuth telluride (CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$) matrix composites were fabricated by a powder metallurgy process. Composite powders, whereby 5 vol.% of functionalized CNTs were homogeneously mixed with $Bi_2Te_3$ alloying powders, were successfully synthesized by using high-energy ball milling process. The powders were consolidated into bulk CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$ composites by spark plasma sintering process at $350^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. The fabricated composites showed the uniform mixing and homogeneous dispersion of CNTs in the $Bi_2Te_3$ matrix. Seebeck coefficient of CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$ composites reveals that the composite has n-type semiconducting characteristics with values ranging $-55\;{\mu}V/K$ to $-95\;{\mu}V/K$ with increasing temperature. Furthermore, the significant reduction in thermal conductivity has been clearly observed in the composites. The results showed that CNT addition to thermoelectric materials could be useful method to obtain high thermoelectric performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.1114-1115
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• 2006

The preparation of single-phase $CuLaO_2$ with delafossite-type structure by means of the solid-state reaction method was investigated using X-ray diffraction. The results showed that notwhistanding the fact that there was a trace of metallic copper, nearly single-phase $CuLaO_2$ was obtained by using $La(OH)_3$ as a lanthanum source and by firing the mixed powder with nonstoichiometric composition ratio of $La(OH)_3:Cu_2O=1:1.425$ in a vacuum at 1273 K for 10 h. The measurement of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient showed that $CuLaO_2$ thus obtained was a p-type semiconductor and had a Seebeck coefficient of approximately $70{\mu}V/K$.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.822-828
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• 2018

P-type Ce/Yb-filled skutterudites were synthesized, and their charge transport and thermoelectric properties were investigated with partial double filling and charge compensation. In the case of $(Ce_{1-z}Yb_z)_{0.8}Fe_4Sb_{12}$ without Co substitution, the marcasite ($FeSb_2$) phase formed alongside the skutterudite phase, but the generation of the marcasite phase was inhibited by increasing Co concentration. The electrical conductivity decreased with increasing temperature, exhibiting degenerate semiconductor behavior. The Hall and Seebeck coefficients were positive, which confirmed that the specimens were p-type semiconductors with holes as the major carriers. The carrier concentration decreased as the concentration of Ce and Co increased, which led to decreased electrical conductivity and increased Seebeck coefficient. The thermal conductivity decreased due to a reduction in electronic thermal conductivity via Co substitution, and due to decreased lattice thermal conductivity via double filling of Ce and Yb. $(Ce_{0.25}Yb_{0.75})_{0.8}Fe_{3.5}Co_{0.5}Sb_{12}$ exhibited the greatest dimensionless figure of merit (ZT = 0.66 at 823 K).

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.582-588
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• 2019

FeVSb1-xTex (0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) half-Heusler alloys were fabricated by mechanical alloying process and subsequent vacuum hot pressing. Near single half-Heusler phases are formed in vacuum hot pressed samples but a second phase of FeSb2 couldn't be avoided. After doping, the lattice thermal conductivity in the system was shown to decrease with increasing Te concentration and with increasing temperature. The lowest thermal conductivity was achieved for FeVSb0.94Te0.06 sample at about 657 K. This considerable reduction of thermal conductivities is attributed to the increased phonon scattering enhanced by defect structure, which is formed by doping of Te at Sb site. The phonon scattering might also increase at grain boundaries due to the formation of fine grain structure. The Seebeck coefficient increased considerably as well, consequently optimizing the thermoelectric figure of merit to a peak value of ~0.24 for FeVSb0.94Te0.06. Thermoelectric properties of various Te concentrations were investigated in the temperature range of around 300~973 K.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.287-292
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• 2022

Magnesium-antimonide is a well-known zintl phase thermoelectric material with low band gap energy, earth-abundance and characteristic electron-crystal phonon-glass properties. The nominal composition Mg_3.8-xZn_xSb₂ (0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.02) was synthesized by controlled melting and subsequent vacuum hot pressing method. To investigate phase development and surface morphology during the process, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were carried out. It should be noted that an additional 16 at. % Mg must be added to the system to compensate for Mg loss during the melting process. This study evaluated the thermoelectric properties of the material in terms of Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity from the low to high temperature regime. The results demonstrated that substituting Zn at Mg sites increased electrical conductivity without significantly affecting the Seebeck coefficient. The maximal dimensionless figure of merit achieved was 0.30 for x = 0.01 at 855 K which is 30% greater than the intrinsic value. Electronic flow properties were also evaluated and discussed to explain the carrier transport mechanism involved in the thermoelectric properties of this alloy system.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.89-94
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• 2022

Thermoelectric materials can directly convert a temperature gradient to an electrical energy and vice-versa, and their performance is determined by the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity. However, it is difficult to establish an effective strategy for enhancing performance since electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity are strongly dependent on the composition, crystal structure, and electronic structure of the material, and show a correlation with each other. Herein, based on the understanding of the formulas related to the performance of thermoelectric materials, we provide a methodology to establish feasible defect engineering strategies of thermal conductivity reduction for improving the performance of thermoelectric materials in connection with the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.36D no.9
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• pp.37-45
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• 1999

For the purpose of reducing the output voltage fluctuation of thin film multijunction thermal converter, EVANOHM alloy-S and chromel-alumel thermocouple were used as a thin film heater material and as a thermoelement of thrmopile, respectively. The temperature coefficient of the resistance of thin film EVANOHM alloy-S heater was about $1.4 {\times} 10^4/^{\circ}C$, which is very small compared to other materials, and thin film chromel-alumel thermocouple showed relatively small difference of the Seebeck coefficients about $38 {\mu}V/K$. The output voltage fluctuation of the thermal converter was about 0.06% for the initial 120 seconds in air and decreased considerably after preheating for 5 minutes or more. The respective AC-DC voltage and current transfer error ranges of the thermal converter were about ${\pm}$1.6 ppm and ${\pm}$0.7 ppm in the frequency range from 10Hz to 10 kHz and increased remarkably below 10 Hz or above 10 kHz.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.596-601
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• 2020

Silicon carbide is considered a potentially useful material for high-temperature electronic devices because of its large band gap energy and p-type or n-type conduction that can be controlled by impurity doping. Accordingly, the thermoelectric properties of -SiC powder prepared by refined diatomite were investigated for high value-added applications of natural diatomite. -SiC powder was synthesized by a carbothermal reduction of the SiO₂ in refined diatomite using carbon black. An acid-treatment process was then performed to eliminate the remaining impurities (Fe, Ca, etc.). n-Type semiconductors were fabricated by sintering the pressed powder at 2000℃ for 1~5h in an N2 atmosphere. The electrical conductivity increased with increasing sintering time, which might be due to an increase in carrier concentration and improvement in grain-to-grain connectivity. The carrier compensation effect caused by the remaining acceptor impurities (Al, etc.) in the obtained -SiC had a deleterious influence on the electrical conductivity. The absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient increased with increasing sintering time, which might be due to a decrease in the stacking fault density accompanied by grain or crystallite growth. On the other hand, the power factor, which reflects the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the present work, was slightly lower than that of the porous SiC semiconductors fabricated by conventional high-purity -SiC powder, it can be stated that the thermoelectric properties could be improved further by precise control of an acid-treatment process.