Thermoelectric materials, which can generate electricity from waste heat or be used as solid-state Peltier coolers, could play an important role in a global sustainable energy solution. Such a development is contingent on identifying materials with higher thermoelectric efficiency than available at present, which is a challenge owing to the conflicting combination of material traits that are required. Nevertheless, because of modern synthesis and characterization techniques, particularly for nanoscale materials, a new era of complex thermoelectric materials is approaching. We review recent advances in the field, highlighting the strategies used to improve the thermopower and reduce the thermal conductivity.

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Complex thermoelectric materials.

The development of organic semiconductors for use in thermoelectrics requires the optimization of both their thermopower and electrical conductivity. Here two fundamentally different doping mechanisms are used to investigate the thermoelectric properties of known high hole mobility polymers: poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT), poly(2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene) (PBTTT-C14), and poly(2,5-bis(thiphen-2-yl)-(3,7-diheptadecantyltetrathienoacene)) (P2TDC17-FT4). The small molecule tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) is known to effectively dope these polymers, and the thermoelectric properties are studied as a function of the ratio of dopant to polymer repeat unit. Higher electrical conductivity and values of the thermoelectric power factor are achieved by doping with vapor-deposited fluoroalkyl trichlorosilanes. The combination of these data reveals a striking relationship between thermopower and conductivity in thiophene-based polymers over a large range of electrical conductivity that is independent of the means of electrical doping. This relationship is not predicted by commonly used transport models for semiconducting polymers and is demonstrated to hold for other semiconducting polymers as well.

Impact of the Doping Method on Conductivity and Thermopower in Semiconducting Polythiophenes

The AZn2Sb2 (Pm1, A = Ca, Sr, Eu, Yb) class of Zintl compounds has shown high thermoelectric efficiency (zT∼ 1) and is an appealing system for the development of Zintl structure–property relationships. High temperature transport measurements have previously been conducted for all known compositions except for SrZn2Sb2; here we characterize polycrystalline SrZn2Sb2 to 723 K and review the transport behavior of the other compounds in this class. Consistent with the known AZn2Sb2 compounds, SrZn2Sb2 is found to be a hole-doped semiconductor with a thermal band gap ∼ 0.27 eV. The Seebeck coefficients of the AZn2Sb2 compounds are found to be described by similar effective mass (m* ∼ 0.6 me). Electronic structure calculations reveal similar m* is due to antimony p states at the valence band edge which are largely unaffected by the choice of A-site species. However, the choice of A-site element has a dramatic effect on the hole mobility, with the room temperature mobility of the rare earth-based compositions approximately double that found for Ca and Sr on the A site. This difference in mobility is examined in the context of electronic structure calculations.

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Electronic structure and transport in thermoelectric compounds AZn2Sb2 (A = Sr, Ca, Yb, Eu).

Chalcopyrite CuGaTe2 is under research for its high thermoelectric performance. Different routes have been investigated recently for enhancing its thermoelectric parameters. In this work we report the synthesis of chalcopyrite CuGa1−xMnxTe2 (x = 0.0, 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03) by a solid state method and through which an enhanced power factor was obtained. The samples were characterized for electrical, thermal and thermoelectric transport properties in the temperature range 325–870 K after performing stability analysis using TG-DTA data. XRD patterns confirm a phase pure tetragonal structure for all nominal compositions with the space group I2d. The electrical conductivity σ increases drastically by Mn2+ doping which increases the hole carriers, while the Seebeck coefficient S still retains large positive values. As a result, the power factor of CuGa0.99Mn0.01Te2 reaches 1.55 mW K−2 m−1 at 718 K. Calculations using the relationship of S and ln σ suggest that the power factor observed for Mn-doped samples is higher than that expected for CuGaTe2 with optimized carrier concentration, suggesting that the Mn-doping brings additional effects other than simple carrier tuning. The total thermal conductivity is reduced by Mn doping, with a minimum thermal conductivity of 1.6 W m−1 K−1 for the x = 0.01 sample. The maximum value for ZT reached at 870 K was 0.83, which is more than 40% enhancement as compared to that of pure CuGaTe2. Strong interactions between the magnetic moments of Mn and charge carriers are inferred by the large negative Weiss temperature in the magnetic susceptibility and distinct anomalous Hall effect, the latter of which develops in accordance with the increase of magnetization at low temperature. These results suggest that the carrier–magnetic moment interaction plays an essential role in the enhancement of the thermoelectric properties of CuGa1−xMnxTe2.

Thermoelectric properties of CuGa1−xMnxTe2: power factor enhancement by incorporation of magnetic ions

The mechanical behavior of semicrystalline isotactic polypropylene (iPP) of different crystallinity, crystal morphology and superstructure was investigated by standard tensile stress–strain analysis, dynamic-mechanical analysis, and in situ observation of the deformation by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Emphasis is put on the comparison of the mechanical characteristics of specimens containing either non-isometric lamellae, being arranged in spherulites, or nodular isometric domains, which are not organized in a superstructure. The formation of lamellae/spherulites and of nodules was controlled by the conditions of crystallization. The replacement of cross-hatched monoclinic lamellae and a spherulitic superstructure by randomly arranged isometric nodules leads to a distinct increase of the ductility and toughness, even if the crystallinity is identical. The modulus of elasticity and the yield stress increase as expected with increasing crystallinity. Slightly lower values of Young’s modulus and yield strength are detected if samples contained non-lamellar crystals in a non-spherulitic superstructure, proving an effect of the crystal shape on the deformation behavior. For the first time, tensile deformation of semicrystalline iPP which contains nodular ordered domains instead of lamellae has been followed by in situ AFM.

D. M. Rowe

Papers

α-in σ plot as a thermoelectric material performance indicator