Lecture
WEB Te-free TEG for low-grade heat harvesting
Friday (25.09.2020) 13:20 - 13:35 F: Functional Materials, Surfaces, and Devices 1 Part of:Thermoelectric (TE) technology, which can directly convert heat into electricity, has aroused escalating attention for its application potentials to alleviate the current energy crisis and environmental issues. Among the available thermoelectric materials, n-type Bi2(Te,Se)3 and p-type (Bi,Sb)2Te3 have long been the unique selections for power generation at below 550K due to their unparalleled TE properties. However, large-scale application of the Bi2Te3-based compounds is retarded since tellurium (Te) is an extremely scarce element in the earth’s crust with an abundance of less than 0.001 ppm. Therefore, it is pivotal to assemble TE devices by employing alternative materials with greatly reduced Te concentration, yet still possessing properties comparable to Bi2Te3 at similar temperatures. In this work, we develop thermoelectric devices from materials with much less Te concentration. The assembled devices possess decent performance for heat-to-power conversion. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of using low-Te compounds for power generation at below 550 K, and suggests the necessity for subsequent investigations to advance the conversion efficiency to compete with the Bi2Te3-based compounds.
