Thermoelectric (Peltier) heat pumps are capable of refrigerating solid or fluid objects, and unlike conventional vapor compressor systems, they can be miniaturized without loss of efficiency. More efficient thermoelectric materials need to be identified, especially for low-temperature applications in electronics and devices. The material CsBi(4)Te(6) has been synthesized and its properties have been studied. When doped appropriately, it exhibits a high thermoelectric figure of merit below room temperature (ZT(max) approximately 0.8 at 225 kelvin). At cryogenic temperatures, the thermoelectric properties of CsBi(4)Te(6) appear to match or exceed those of Bi(2-x)Sb(x)Te(3-y)Se(y) alloys.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/287/5455/1024.full.pdf

CsBi4Te6: A High-Performance Thermoelectric Material for Low-Temperature Applications

Phonon and electron transport in ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Te}}_{3}$ has been investigated using a multiscale approach, combining the first-principles calculations, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and Boltzmann transport equations (BTEs). Good agreements are found with the available experimental results. The MD simulations along with the Green-Kubo autocorrelation decay method are used to calculate the lattice thermal conductivity in both the in-plane and cross-plane directions, where the required classical interatomic potentials for ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Te}}_{3}$ are developed on the basis of first-principles calculations and experimental results. In the decomposition of the lattice thermal conductivity, the contributions from the short-range acoustic and optical phonons are found to be temperature independent and direction independent, while the long-range acoustic phonons dominate the phonon transport with a strong temperature and direction dependence (represented by a modified Slack relation). The sum of the short-range acoustic and optical phonon contribution is about $0.2\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{W}∕\mathrm{m}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ and signifies the limit when the long-range transport is suppressed by nanostructure engineering. The electrical transport is calculated using the full-band structure from the linearized augmented plane-wave method, BTE, and the energy-dependent relaxation-time models with the nonparabolic Kane energy dispersion. Temperature dependence of the energy gap is found to be important for the prediction of electrical transport in the intrinsic regime. Appropriate modeling of relaxation times is also essential for the calculation of electric and thermal transport, especially in the intrinsic regime. The maximum of the Seebeck coefficient appears when the chemical potential approaches the band edge and can be estimated by a simple expression containing the band gap. The scatterings by the acoustic, optical, and polar-optical phonons dominate the electrical conductivity and electric thermal conductivity.

/pdf/ab-initio-and-molecular-dynamics-predictions-for-electron-1a1q6140pe.pdf

Ab initio and molecular dynamics predictions for electron and phonon transport in bismuth telluride

DOI: 10.1002/aelm.201800904 made for efficient thermoelectric cooling or temperature management uses Bi2Te3 alloys. Such solid-state devices dominate the market for temperature control in optoelectronics. As the need to eliminate greenhouse-gas refrigerants increases, Peltier cooling is becoming more attractive particularly in small systems where efficiencies are comparable to traditional refrigerant based cooling. Such small devices may enable distributive heating/ cooling (only where and when it is needed) with higher system level energy efficiency, for example in electric vehicles where energy for heating/cooling competes with vehicle range. Even for thermoelectric power generation, e.g., recovery of waste heat, Bi2Te3 alloys are most used because of superior efficiency up to 200 °C and the technology to make devices with Bi2Te3 is most advanced.[1–3] While the material and production technology for making Bi2Te3-based devices has remained essentially unchanged since the 1960s, our understanding of these materials has advanced considerably. Most recently, the interest in topological insulators (TI) has led to new insights into the complex electronic structure[4,5] revealing that with the accuracy in assessing the band structures available today, improvements in the electronic structure by band engineering should not only be possible but predictable.[6–9] Indeed, the p-type alloys chosen for use in commercial Peltier coolers appear to have unintentionally arrived at a composition close to a band convergence. The understanding of defects and doping is also advancing rapidly that will lead to new strategies for additional improvements in the electronic properties. The thermal conductivity of Bi2Te3-based alloys can also be engineered, where in particular there is much recent interest in microstructure engineering or nanostructuring.[10–22] Reduced thermal conductivity has led to numerous reports of exceptionally high efficiency (zT) that would be sufficient to revolutionize the industry. However, between measurement and material uncertainties, a revolutionary new Bi2Te3-based material has not made it to the market. Because even small but reliable improvements could make significant impact, it is worthwhile to better understand all the complex, interdependent effects of band engineering and microstructure engineering. To demonstrate and quantify improvements in thermoelectric properties, it is necessary to have well characterized properties or reliable benchmarks for comparison. Bismuth telluride is the working material for most Peltier cooling devices and thermoelectric generators. This is because Bi2Te3 (or more precisely its alloys with Sb2Te3 for p-type and Bi2Se3 for n-type material) has the highest thermoelectric figure of merit, zT, of any material around room temperature. Since thermoelectric technology will be greatly enhanced by improving Bi2Te3 or finding a superior material, this review aims to identify and quantify the key material properties that make Bi2Te3 such a good thermoelectric. The large zT can be traced to the high band degeneracy, low effective mass, high carrier mobility, and relatively low lattice thermal conductivity, which all contribute to its remarkably high thermoelectric quality factor. Using literature data augmented with newer results, these material parameters are quantified, giving clear insight into the tailoring of the electronic band structure of Bi2Te3 by alloying, or reducing thermal conductivity by nanostructuring. For example, this analysis clearly shows that the minority carrier excitation across the small bandgap significantly limits the thermoelectric performance of Bi2Te3, even at room temperature, showing that larger bandgap alloys are needed for higher temperature operation. Such effective material parameters can also be used for benchmarking future improvements in Bi2Te3 or new replacement materials.

The Thermoelectric Properties of Bismuth Telluride

1. Introduction and preliminaries 2. Molecular orbitals-potentials-dynamics, and quantum energy states 3. Carrier energy transport and transition theories 4. Phonon energy storage, transport and transition kinetics 5. Electron energy storage, transport and transition kinetics 6. Fluid particle energy storage, transport and transformation kinetics 7. Photon energy storage, transport and transition kinetics.

Heat Transfer Physics

We have studied transport properties (resistivity, Hall effect, thermopower, and thermal conductivity) of Bi2S3 and two new ternary bismuth sulfides, KBi6.33S10 and K2Bi8S13, to explore their potential for thermoelectric applications. While both Bi2S3 and K2Bi8S13 display an essentially metallic conduction, KBi6.33S10 has a distinctly semiconducting character. From the Hall measurements it follows that the dominant carriers in all three compounds are electrons and that the carrier density in K2Bi8S13 is almost 2 orders of magnitude larger than in Bi2S3 and KBi6.33S10 over the whole temperature range from 4 to 300 K. While the room temperature thermopowers of KBi6.33S10 and K2Bi8S13 are comparable (∼−100 μV/K), the thermopower of Bi2S3 is a factor of 3 larger. All three compounds are poor conductors of heat, in particular the thermal conductivity of KBi6.33S10 is some 25% lower than the thermal conductivity of Bi2Te3, the benchmark thermoelectric material. To make these materials useful thermoelectrics, wa...

Transport Properties of Bi2S3 and the Ternary Bismuth Sulfides KBi6.33S10 and K2Bi8S13

Electrical and thermoelectrical properties of undoped Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3 and Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3-Sb2Se3 single crystals

Electrical properties of the 85% Bi2Te3-15% Bi2Se3 thermoelectric material doped with SbI3 and CuBr

Porous metals are called as a new material of 21th century because they show not only extremely low density, but also novel physical, thermal, mechanical, electrical, and acoustic properties. Since the late in the 1990‘s, considerable progress has been made in the production technologies of many kinds of porous metals such as aluminum, titanium, nickel, copper, stainless steel, etc. The commercial applications of porous metals have been increased in the field of light weight structures, sound absorption, mechanical damping, bio-materials, thermal management for heat exchanger and heat sink. Especially, the porous metals are promising in automotive applications for light-weighting body sheets and various structural components due to the good relation between weight and stiffness. This paper reviews the recent progress of production techniques using molten metal bubbling, metal foaming, gas expansion, hollow sphere structure, unidirectional solidification, etc, which have been commercialized or under developing, and finally introduces several case studies on the potential applications of porous metals in the area of heat sink, automotive pannel, cathod for Ni-MH battery, golf putter and medical implant.

Jae-Dong Shim

Papers

Electrical and thermoelectrical properties of undoped Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3 and Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3-Sb2Se3 single crystals

Electrical properties of the 85% Bi2Te3-15% Bi2Se3 thermoelectric material doped with SbI3 and CuBr

다공질 금속의 제조와 응용

Effect of Temperature and Time in Preparation of Nd-Fe Alloys Using NdF3-Ca-CaCl2-Fe Reaction System.

Simple preparation of AZ91 magnesium alloy slurries for rheoforming