• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.254-259
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• 2015

$Bi_2Te_3$ related compounds show the best thermoelectric properties at room temperature. However, n-type $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$ showed no improvement on ZT values. To improve the thermolectric propterties of n-type $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$, this research has Cu-doped n-type powder. This study focused on effects of Cu-doping method on the thermoelectric properties of n-type materials, and evaluated the comparison between the Cu chemical and mechanical doping. The synthesized powder was manufactured by the spark plasma sintering(SPS). The thermoelectric properties of the sintered body were evaluated by measuring their Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, and hall coefficient. An introduction of a small amount of Cu reduced the thermal conductivity and improved the electrical properties with Seebeck coefficient. The authors provided the optimal concentration of $Cu_{0.1}Bi_{1.99}Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$. A figure of merit (ZT) value of 1.22 was obtained for $Cu_{0.1}Bi_{1.9}Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$ at 373K by Cu chemical doping, which was obviously higher than those of $Cu_{0.1}Bi_{1.9}Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$ at 373K by Cu mechanical doping (ZT=0.56) and Cu-free $Bi_2Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$ (ZT=0.51).

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.70-74
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• 2015

In this paper, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and micro glass bubbles (GBs) have been incorporated into a polyamide6 (PA6) matrix to impart thermoelectric properties. The spaces created in the matrix by GBs allows the formation of "segregated" CNT network. The tightly bound CNT network, if controlled properly, can serve as a conductive path for electron transport, while prohibiting phonon transport, which would provide an ideal configuration for thermoelectric applications. The CNTs and GBs were dispersed in a nylon-formic acid solution using horn sonication followed by coagulation in deionized water, and nanocomposite panels were fabricated using a hot press. The performance of nanocomposite panels was evaluated from thermal and electrical conductivities and Seebeck coefficient, and a thermoelectric figure of merit as high as 0.016 was achieved.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 1997

P-type ($Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$) and n-type ($Bi_2Te_{2.4} Se_{0.6}$) thermoelectric thin film were deposited on glass and Teflon substrates by the flash evaporation technique. The changes in thermoelectric properties, such as Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, carrier concentration, carrier mobility, thermal conductivity, and figure of merit, were investigated as a function of film thickness and annealing condition. Figures of merit of the thin films annealed at 473 K for 1 hour were improved to be $1.3{\times}10^{-3}K^{-1}$ for p-type and $0.3{\times}10^{-3}K^{-1}$ for n-type, and they were almost independent of film thickness. Temperature sensors were fabricated from the thin films having the above mentioned properties. And thermo-emf, sensitivity, and time constant of the sensors were measured to evaluate their characteristics for temperature sensors. Thin film sensors deposited on Teflon substrates showed better performance than those on glass substrates, and their sensitivity and time constant were 2.91 V/W and 28.2 sec respectively for the sensor of leg width 1 mm$\times$length 16 mm.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2002

In this paper, a thermopile which is applied to wide uses of temperature measuring was fabricated and its characteristic was improved by appling SOI structure to the fabrication. We improved characteristic of the thermopile by using single crystal silicon strips that has high seebeck coefficient and dielectric isolating the silicon strips from substrate with silicon dioxide film which dramatically decrease thermal conductivity between hot and cold junction compared to a silicon strip which was fabricated by ion implantation. The thermopile consists of 17 p-type single crystal silicon strips and 17 n-types by serial connection. The result of electromotive force measuring showed very good characteristic as 130mV/K when temperature difference between the two ends of the thermopile occurs by applying light on the thermopile fabricated with silicon strips of $1600{\mu}m$ length, $40{\mu}m$ width, $1{\mu}m$ thickness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.11-11
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• 2010

In order to design for nano structured materials with enhanced thermoelectric properties, the alloys in the pseudo-binary $Bi_2Te_3$-PbTe system were investigated for their micro structure and thermal properties. For this synthesis the liquid alloys were cooled by water quenching method. The micro structure images were taken by using electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA). Dendritic and lamellar structures were clearly observed with the variation in the composition ratio between $Bi_2Te_3$ and PbTe. It was confirmed that a metastable compounds is $PbBi_2Te_4$ in the The $Bi_2Te_3$-PbTe system. The change in the composition increasing $Bi_2Te_3$ ratio causes to change structure from dendritic to lamellar. Seebeck coefficient of alloys 5 which the mixture rate of $Bi_2Te_3$ is 83% was measured as the highest value. In contrast, the others decreased by increasing $Bi_2Te_3$. n-type characteristics was observed at all condition except alloy 6 which $Bi_2Te_3$ ration is 91%. The power factors of all samples were calculated with Seebeck coefficient and resistivity. Also the thermal conductivity was measured by using laser flash analyzer (LFA). In this work, the microstructures and thermal properties have been measured as a function of ratio of $Bi_2Te_3$ in the $Bi_2Te_3$-PbTe system.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.437-442
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• 2011

The present study focused on the synthesis of Bi-Te-Se-based powder by an oxide-reduction process, and analysis of the thermoelectric properties of the synthesized powder. The phase structure, chemical composition, and morphology of the synthesized powder were analyzed by XRD, EPMA and SEM. The synthesized powder was sintered by spark plasma sintering. The thermoelectric properties of the sintered body were evaluated by measuring its Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity. $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$ powder was synthesized from a mixture of $Bi_2O_3$, $TeO_2$, and $SeO_2$ powders by mechanical milling, calcination, and reduction. The sintered body of the synthesized powder exhibited n-type thermoelectric characteristics. The thermoelectric properties of the sintered bodies depend on the reduction temperature. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity of the sintered body were increased with increasing reduction temperature. The sintered body of the $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$ powder synthesized at $360^{\circ}C$ showed about 0.5 of the figure of merit (ZT) at room temperature.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.638-641
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• 2013

GNS/PVDF composites were prepared using graphite nanosheets (GNS) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) for flexible thermoelectric application. We measured the electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of GNS/PVDF composites with different contents of GNS and then evaluated the thermoelectric properties of GNS/PVDF composites. The electrical conductivity of GNS/PVDF composites increased from 389 to 1512 S/m with increasing the content of GNS from 10 to 70 wt%. While the electrical conductivity dramatically increased, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity did not show any big difference as the content of GNS increases. In this study, we demonstrated that GNS/PVDF composites improved the thermoelectric properties by decreasing the thermal conductivity due to the phonon scattering at the interfaces between polymer and GNS nanoplatelets.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.340-344
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• 2011

Thermoelectric bismuth telluride ($Bi_2Te_3$) films were deposited on $4^{\circ}$ off oriented (001) GaAs substrates using a modified metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system. The effects of substrate temperature on surface morphologies, crystallinity, electrical properties and thermoelctric properties were investigated. Two dimensional growth mode (2D) was observed at substrate temperature lower than $400^{\circ}C$. However, three dimensional growth mode (3D) was observed at substrate temperature higher than $400^{\circ}C$. Change of growth mechanism from 2D to 3D was confirmed with environmental scanning electron microscope (E-SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis. Seebeck coefficients of all samples have negative values. This result indicates that $Bi_2Te_3$ films grown by modified MOCVD are n-type. The maximum value of Seebeck coefficient was -225 ${\mu}V/K$ and the power factor was $1.86{\times}10^{-3}\;W/mK^2$ at the substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$. $Bi_2Te_3$ films deposited using modified MOCVD can be used to fabricate high-performance thermoelectric devices.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1133-1137
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• 2011

A novel technique for the fabrication of a glass micropipette-based thermal sensor was developed utilizing inexpensive thermocouple materials. Thermal fluctuation with a resolution of ${\pm}0.002$ K was measured using the fabricated thermal probe. The sensors comprise unleaded low-melting point solder alloy (Sn) as a core metal inside a borosilicate glass pipette coated with a thin film of Ni, creating a thermocouple junction at the tip. The sensor was calibrated using a thermally insulated calibration chamber, the temperature of which can be controlled with a precision of ${\pm}0.1$ K and the thermoelectric power (Seebeck coefficient) of the sensor was recorded from 8.46 to $8.86{\mu}V$/K. The sensor we have produced is both cost-effective and reliable for thermal conductivity measurements of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and biological temperature sensing at the micron level.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2016

Recently, $Bi_2Te_3$-based alloys are the best thermoelectric materials near to room temperature, so it has been researched to achieve increased figure of merit(ZT). Ternary compounds such as Bi-Te-Se and Bi-Sb-Te have higher thermoelectric property than binary compound Bi-Te and Sb-Te, respectively. Compared to DC plating method, pulsed electrodeposition is able to control parameters including average current density, and on/off pulse time etc. Thereby the morphology and properties of the films can be improved. In this study, we electrodeposited n-type ternary Cu-doped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film by modified pulse technique at room temperature. To further enhance thermoelectric properties of $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film, we optimized Cu doping concentration in $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film and correlated it to electrical and thermoelectric properties. Thus, the crystal, electrical, and thermoelectric properties of electrodeposited $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film were characterized the XRD, SEM, EDS, Seebeck measurement, and Hall effect measurement, respectively. As a result, the thermoelectric properties of Cu-doped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin films were observed that the Seebeck coefficient is $-101.2{\mu}V/K$ and the power factor is $1412.6{\mu}W/mK^2$ at 10 mg of Cu weight. The power factor of Cu-doped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film is 1.4 times higher than undoped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film.