Advances in the design and assembly of flexible thermoelectric device

Flexible Elemental Thermoelectrics with Ultra-high Power Density

Two decades after the rapid expansion of photovoltaics, the number of solar panels reaching end‐of‐life is increasing. While precious metals such as silver and copper are usually recycled, silicon, which makes up the bulk of a solar cells, goes to landfills. This is due to the defect‐ and impurity‐sensitive nature in most silicon‐based technologies, rendering it uneconomical to purify waste silicon. Thermoelectrics represents a rare class of material in which defects and impurities can be engineered to enhance the performance. This is because of the majority‐carrier nature, making it defect‐ and impurity‐tolerant. Here, the upcycling of silicon from photovoltaic (PV) waste into thermoelectrics is enabled. This is done by doping 1% Ge and 4% P, which results in a figure of merit (zT) of 0.45 at 873 K, the highest among silicon‐based thermoelectrics. The work represents an important piece of the puzzle in realizing a circular economy for photovoltaics and electronic waste.

Upcycling Silicon Photovoltaic Waste into Thermoelectrics

Designing good compatibility factor in segmented Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 – GeTe thermoelectrics for high power conversion efficiency

Tremendous growth has been witnessed in the field of additive manufacturing (AM) technology over the last few decades. It offers a plethora of applications and is already being utilized in almost every sphere of life. Owing to inherent differences between each AM technique, newer fields of research consistently emerge and demand attention. Also, the innovative applications of AM open up newer challenges and thus avenues for focused attention. One such avenue is AM materials. Raw material plays an important role in determining the properties of fabricated part. The type and form of raw material largely depend on the type of AM fabricators. There is a restriction on material compatibility with most of the established AM techniques. This review aims to provide an overview of various aspects of AM materials highlighting the progress made especially over the past two decades. 

/pdf/a-review-of-various-materials-for-additive-manufacturing-3gz3885y.pdf

A review of various materials for additive manufacturing: recent trends and processing issues

Additive Manufacturing of Thermoelectrics: Emerging Trends and Outlook

SARS-CoV-2 presence in wastewater has been reported in several studies and has received widespread attention among the Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) community. Such studies can potentially be used as a proxy for early warning of potential COVID-19 outbreak, or as a mitigation measure for potential virus transmission via contaminated water. In this review, we summarized the latest understanding on the detection, concentration, and evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Importantly, we discuss factors affecting the quality of wastewater surveillance ranging from temperature, pH, starting concentration, as well as the presence of chemical pollutants. These factors greatly affect the reliability and comparability of studies reported by various communities across the world. Overall, this review provides a broadly encompassing guidance for epidemiological study using wastewater surveillance. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtadv.2022.100211

SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: From detection to evaluation

Thermoelectrics can convert waste heat to electricity and vice versa. The energy conversion efficiency depends on materials figure of merit, zT, and Carnot efficiency. Due to the higher Carnot efficiency at a higher temperature gradient, high-temperature thermoelectrics are attractive for waste heat recycling. Among high-temperature thermoelectrics, silicon-based compounds are attractive due to the confluence of light weight, high abundance, and low cost. Adding to their attractiveness is the generally defect-tolerant nature of thermoelectrics. This makes them a suitable target application for recycled silicon waste from electronic (e-waste) and solar cell waste. In this review, we summarize the usage of high-temperature thermoelectric generators (TEGs) in applications such as commercial aviation and space voyages. Special emphasis is placed on silicon-based compounds, which include some recent works on recycled silicon and their thermoelectric properties. Besides materials design, device designing considerations to further maximize the energy conversion efficiencies are also discussed. The insights derived from this review can be used to guide sustainable recycling of e-waste into thermoelectrics for power harvesting.

/pdf/potential-of-recycled-silicon-and-silicon-based-cba0hkkz.pdf

S. S. F. Duran

Papers

Additive Manufacturing of Thermoelectrics: Emerging Trends and Outlook

SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: From detection to evaluation

Potential of Recycled Silicon and Silicon-Based Thermoelectrics for Power Generation