A record thermoelectric efficiency in tellurium-free modules for low-grade waste heat recovery

Bu, Zhonglin; Zhang, Xinyue; Hu, Yixin; Chen, Zhiwei; Lin, Siqi; Li, Wen; Xiao, Chong; Pei, Yanzhong

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27916-y

Cited by 152 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…An advantage of Mg 3 X 2 is that it consists of more abundant elements compared to commercially used

{Bi}_{2} {Te}_{3}

alloys. [ 98 ] Some recent studies, in which

{Mg}_{3} {Sb}_{2}

‐

{Mg}_{3} {Bi}_{2}

alloys were coupled with p‐type

{Bi}_{2} {Te}_{3}

, [ 99 ] MgAgSb, [ 100 ] and CdSb, [ 101 ] showed a high thermoelectric conversion efficiency of more than 7% under a temperature difference of 273 K above ambient conditions. However, as with any new material, there are some new challenges to overcome prior to the implementation of these n‐type

{Mg}_{3} {Sb}_{2}

‐

{Mg}_{3} {Bi}_{2}

alloys in a terrestrial application.…”

Section: Future Prospectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg₃Sb₂‐Mg₃Bi₂ Alloys

Imasato

Wood

Anand

et al. 2022

Adv Energy and Sustain Res

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n‐Type Mg3Sb2‐Mg3Bi2 alloys are some of the most promising thermoelectric materials in the low–mid temperature range. While discovered relatively recently, these materials have garnered intense attention, and numerous papers from the international thermoelectric community have been published in a relatively short period of time. As with all materials, detailed insights into the underlying mechanisms that contribute to these alloys’ distinguished thermoelectric properties are important for future researchers to push the performance of this material to new heights. Herein, experimental studies on the role defects, synthesis conditions, electronic band structure, and microstructure along with future prospects arecompiled to establish a guide for fully exploiting the potential of this material system. Considering the limited number of n‐type thermoelectric materials with this performance for low‐grade heat recovery and cooling technologies, further development of the Mg3Sb2‐Mg3Bi2 alloys is an important step toward commercial applications of thermoelectric materials, including cooling technologies and waste heat recovery applications.

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“…An advantage of Mg 3 X 2 is that it consists of more abundant elements compared to commercially used

{Bi}_{2} {Te}_{3}

alloys. [ 98 ] Some recent studies, in which

{Mg}_{3} {Sb}_{2}

‐

{Mg}_{3} {Bi}_{2}

alloys were coupled with p‐type

{Bi}_{2} {Te}_{3}

{Mg}_{3} {Sb}_{2}

‐

{Mg}_{3} {Bi}_{2}

alloys in a terrestrial application.…”

Section: Future Prospectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg₃Sb₂‐Mg₃Bi₂ Alloys

Imasato

Wood

Anand

et al. 2022

Adv Energy and Sustain Res

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“…side temperature as variation of the current were recorded in Figure 6B-D, respectively. Benefiting from the low contact resistance and the properly optimized n-and p-type materials, the Mg 3+δ Bi 1.5 Sb 0.5 /Bi 0.4 Sb 1.6 Te 3 unicouple achieved conversion efficiency of ~4% at a temperature difference of 100 K [Figure 6E], which is better than the cutting-edge results reported recently [Figure 6F] [9,[39][40][41] . The highest efficiency obtained was ~6% at a temperature difference of 150 K and a hot-side temperature of 448 K. With such a decent efficiency, this unicouple already outperforms an intermediate TEG with a temperature difference of over 400 K [5,42,43] .…”

Section: Energy Conversion Efficiency Of a Thermoelectric Power Gener...mentioning

confidence: 81%

Reliable metal alloy contact for Mg3+δBi1.5Sb0.5 thermoelectric devices

Song¹,

Liang²,

Xu³

et al. 2022

Soft Sci

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Proper contacts between thermoelectric (TE) materials and electrodes are critical for TE power generation or refrigeration. The Bi-rich n-type Zintl material Mg3+δBi2-xSbx exhibits very good TE performance near room temperature, which makes Mg3+δBi2-xSbx-based compounds highly promising candidates to replace the Bi2Te3-ySey alloys, but ideal contacts that can match their TE performance have not yet been well studied. Here we investigate different metal (Ni and Fe) and metal alloy (NiFe, NiCr, NiCrFe, and stainless steel) contacts on n-type Mg3+δBi1.5Sb0.5. It is first shown that the low Schottky barrier and narrow depletion region resulting from the band degeneracy and high carrier concentration of a heavily doped TE material are beneficial for the formation of a low-resistivity ohmic contact with a metal or a metal alloy. Most fully optimized TE materials can take advantage of this. Second, it is found that the NiFe/Mg3+δBi1.5Sb0.5 contact exhibits excellent thermal stability and the lowest ohmic contact resistivity among those studied after aging for over 2100 h, which is attributed to the formation of metallic NiMgBi between the NiFe and Mg3+δBi1.5Sb0.5 layers. As a buffer phase, NiMgBi can effectively prevent elemental diffusion without negatively affecting the electron transport. Benefiting from such low contact resistance, a Mg3+δBi1.5Sb0.5/Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 unicouple exhibits competitive conversion efficiency, 6% with a 150 K temperature difference and a hot-side temperature of 448 K.

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“…A thermoelectric device composed of P-and N-type thermoelectric material legs placed between hot-and cold-side substrates can directly convert thermal energy into electrical energy via thermoelectric effects 1 . As the device can generate electric power using low-grade thermal energy 2 , thermoelectric technology has been considered particularly promising for industrial or vehicle waste heat recovery systems 3,4 .…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Best Thermoelectric Efficiency of Ever-Explored Materials

Ryu

Chung

Kumagai

et al. 2022

Preprint

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A thermoelectric device is a heat engine that directly converts heat into electricity. Many materials with a high figure of merit ZT have been discovered in anticipation of a high thermoelectric efficiency. However, there has been a lack of investigations on efficiency-based material evaluation, and little is known about the achievable limit of thermoelectric efficiency. Here, we report the highest thermoelectric efficiency using 13,353 published materials. The thermoelectric device efficiencies of 808,610 configurations are calculated under various heat-source temperatures (Th) when the cold-side temperature is 300 K, solving one-dimensional thermoelectric integral equations with temperature-dependent thermoelectric properties. For infinite-cascade devices, a thermoelectric efficiency larger than 33% (≈1/3) is achievable when Th exceeds 1400 K. For single-stage devices, the best efficiency of 17.1% (≈1/6) is possible when Th is 860 K. Leg segmentation can overcome this limit, delivering a very high efficiency of 24% (≈1/4) when Th is 1100 K.

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A record thermoelectric efficiency in tellurium-free modules for low-grade waste heat recovery

Cited by 152 publications

References 51 publications

Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg₃Sb₂‐Mg₃Bi₂ Alloys

Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg₃Sb₂‐Mg₃Bi₂ Alloys

Reliable metal alloy contact for Mg3+δBi1.5Sb0.5 thermoelectric devices

Best Thermoelectric Efficiency of Ever-Explored Materials

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A record thermoelectric efficiency in tellurium-free modules for low-grade waste heat recovery

Cited by 152 publications

References 51 publications

Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg3Sb2‐Mg3Bi2 Alloys

Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg3Sb2‐Mg3Bi2 Alloys

Reliable metal alloy contact for Mg3+δBi1.5Sb0.5 thermoelectric devices

Best Thermoelectric Efficiency of Ever-Explored Materials

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Product

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Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg₃Sb₂‐Mg₃Bi₂ Alloys

Understanding the High Thermoelectric Performance of Mg₃Sb₂‐Mg₃Bi₂ Alloys