Thermoelectric (TE) materials have the capability of converting heat into electricity, which can improve fuel efficiency, as well as providing robust alternative energy supply in multiple applications by collecting wasted heat, and therefore, assisting in finding new energy solutions. In order to construct high performance TE devices, superior TE materials have to be targeted via various strategies. The development of high performance TE devices can broaden the market of TE application and eventually boost the enthusiasm of TE material research. This review focuses on major novel strategies to achieve high-performance TE materials and their applications. Manipulating the carrier concentration and band structures of materials are effective in optimizing the electrical transport properties, while nanostructure engineering and defect engineering can greatly reduce the thermal conductivity approaching the amorphous limit. Currently, TE devices are utilized to generate power in remote missions, solar-thermal systems, implantable or/wearable devices, the automotive industry, and many other fields; they are also serving as temperature sensors and controllers or even gas sensors. The future tendency is to synergistically optimize and integrate all the effective factors to further improve the TE performance, so that highly efficient TE materials and devices can be more beneficial to daily lives.

https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:722903/UQ722903_OA.pdf

High Performance Thermoelectric Materials: Progress and Their Applications

Thermoelectric (TE) technology is regarded as alternative and environmentally friendly technology for harvesting and recovering heat which is directly converted into electrical energy using thermoelectric generators (TEG). Conversely, Peltier coolers and heaters are utilized to convert electrical energy into heat energy for cooling and heating purposes The main challenge lying behind the TE technology is the low efficiency of these devices mainly due to low figure of merit (ZT) of the materials used in making them as well as improper setting of the TE systems. The objective of this work is to carry out a comprehensive review of TE technology encompassing the materials, applications, modelling techniques and performance improvement. The paper has covered a wide range of topics related to TE technology subject area including the output power conditioning techniques. The review reveals some important critical aspects regarding TE device application and performance improvement. It is observed that the intensified research into TE technology has led to an outstanding increase in ZT, rendering the use TE devices in diversified application a reality. Not only does the TE material research and TE device geometrical adjustment contributed to TE device performance improvement, but also the use of advanced TE mathematical models which have facilitated appropriate segmentation TE modules using different materials and design of integrated TE devices. TE devices are observed to have booming applications in cooling, heating, electric power generation as well as hybrid applications. With the generation of electric energy using TEG, not only does the waste heat provide heat source but also other energy sources like solar, geothermal, biomass, infra-red radiation have gained increased utilization in TE based systems. However, the main challenge remains in striking the balance between the conflicting parameters; ZT and power factor, when designing and optimizing advanced TE materials. Hence more research is necessary to overcome this and other challenge so that the performance TE device can be improved further.

/pdf/a-comprehensive-review-of-thermoelectric-technology-2zghp2rn7k.pdf

A comprehensive review of thermoelectric technology: materials, applications, modelling and performance improvement

Performance analysis of a waste heat recovery thermoelectric generation system for automotive application

Design of heat sink for improving the performance of thermoelectric generator

In this paper, after a short review of waste heat recovery technologies from diesel engines, the heat exchangers (HEXs) used in exhaust of engines is introduced as the most common way. So, a short review of the technologies that increase the heat transfer in HEXs is introduced and the availability of using them in the exhaust of engines is evaluated and finally a complete review of different HEXs which previously were designed for increasing the exhaust waste heat recovery is presented. Also, future view points for next HEXs designs are proposed to increase heat recovery from the exhaust of diesel engines.

A review of different heat exchangers designs for increasing the diesel exhaust waste heat recovery

Experiment on thermal uniformity and pressure drop of exhaust heat exchanger for automotive thermoelectric generator

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/745.pdf

Numerical and experimental analysis for exhaust heat exchangers in automobile thermoelectric generators

The invention relates to a method for preparing a thermoelectric material of a ternary diamond structure. The method comprises the steps of: raw material preparation, heat-preservation reaction, annealing treatment, spark plasma sintering and the like. In the invention, by applying a fusion-process preparation technology, rapid spark plasma sintering and other methods and controlling technological parameters, the method for preparing the thermoelectric material of the ternary diamond structure is realized and has the advantages of simple and convenient technology, short flow time, high feasibility and good thermoelectric performance, and the thermoelectric material of the ternary diamond structure, prepared with the method provided by the invention, has favorable thermoelectric performance and can be used as a p-type thermoelectric material. The method has the characteristics of simplicity, strong operability, low cost, good industrial prospect and the like.

Method for preparing thermoelectric material of ternary diamond structure

The invention relates to a doping molybdenum antimonide-based thermoelectric material and the preparation method, which is characterized in that the invention adopts arc melting and discharging plasma rapid sintering method for combination. The preparation method which is provided by the invention is the arc melting and the discharging plasma rapid sintering; Sb and Te/Se are firstly melted to form Sb2Te3Sb2Se3 and then are treated with the arc melting with the stoichiometric ratio of Mo and Sb; finally, the discharging plasma rapid sintering technology is introduced for preparing a dense single-phase material. The invention provides the rapid, simple and effective preparation method of the molybdenum antimonide-based thermoelectric material, which has good practical prospect.

A preparation method for antimonide molybdenum base thermoelectric material

In the present study, p-type BixSb2−xTe3 thermoelectric thin films with various chemical compositions were fabricated by a magnetron co-sputtering process. The influence of Bi content (x) on the microstructures and thermoelectric properties of BixSb2−xTe3 films was investigated. It was found that the grain size of nanocrystalline BixSb2−xTe3 films decreased when increasing the Bi content from x = 0 to x = 0.57, which resulted in a concurrent decrease in the carrier mobility. Similarly, carrier concentration decreased with increasing Bi content, which caused an increase in the Seebeck coefficient. The largest room-temperature power factor reached 31.3 µWK−2cm−1 for the film with x = 0.45.

Ting Wu

Papers

Experiment on thermal uniformity and pressure drop of exhaust heat exchanger for automotive thermoelectric generator

Numerical and experimental analysis for exhaust heat exchangers in automobile thermoelectric generators

Method for preparing thermoelectric material of ternary diamond structure

A preparation method for antimonide molybdenum base thermoelectric material

Microstructures and thermoelectric properties of p -type Bi x Sb 2− x Te 3 thin films with various compositions