Enhancement in thermoelectric performance of n-type Pb-deficit Pb-Sb-Te alloys

Abstract

PbTe based materials are well known for their high performance thermoelectric properties. Here, a systematic study of thermoelectric transport properties of n-type Pb-deficit Pb0.98-xSbxTe alloys with carrier concentrations in the range of 10 -19 cm -3 is presented from room temperature to 623 K. A maximum thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) of 0.81 was achieved at 623 K for 4 mol% Sb containing Pb-deficit composition, by the cumulative integration of enhanced power factor and significant reduction in thermal conductivity. The scattering of phonons at Pb vacancies, contributed to the reduction of lattice thermal conductivity, and thereby strikingly boosted the zT of the Pb-deficit samples when compared with the pristine Pb1-xSbxTe.

Realizing a stable high thermoelectric zT ∼ 2 over a broad temperature range in Ge1−x−yGaxSbyTe via band engineering and hybrid flash-SPS processing

“…Even the idea of semiconducting chalcogenide glasses (based on phonon-glass electron-crystal approach) as potential thermoelectric materials have been tried with varying degree of success. [17][18][19][20] Though the concept of band engineering is extensively applied to various p-and n-type materials like SnTe [21][22][23][24][25] , PbTe [26][27][28] , half-Heuser 29 and Mg2Si 30 , it is applied relatively less on GeTe-based materials.…”

Effect of the Processing Route on the Thermoelectric Performance of Nanostructured CuPb18SbTe20

“…(i) quantum confinement of electron charge carriers; 8 (ii) synergistic nano-structuring; [9][10][11][12][13] (iii) nanoinclusions, which enable acoustic phonon scatterings; 14,15 (iv) electron filtering; 16 (v) convergence of electronic band valleys; [17][18][19][20] (vi) fostering resonant levels by impurities inside the valence band; 21 (vii) alloying to create point defects; [22][23][24] (viii) complex crystal structures like skutterudites, 25,26 Zintl compounds, 27,28 hetero-structured superlattice thin-films; 29 (ix) semi-conducting glasses, [30][31][32][33][34] and (x) utilization of magnetism, [35][36][37][38] for instance.…”

Experimental Investigation on the Thermal Performance of Pulsating Heat Pipe Heat Exchangers

“…All abovementioned phenomena also revealed in Figure 4b at airflow velocity of 2.0 m/s, and the heat transfer rate of those heat exchangers in Figure 4b is increased by a factor ranging from 2.9 to 1.8 compared with the results in Figure 4a depending on the PHP condition. Equations (1) and (2) show that the heat transfer rate is in proportion to both the mass flow rate and the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the airflow. The higher heat transfer rate in Figure 4b was In addition, the heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger possessing a HFE-7000-charged PHP without being degassed in Figure 4a has to be mentioned in particular.…”

“…Sources of low temperature waste heat mostly include heat loss from industrial products, equipment and processes, and heat discharged from combustion processes. Therefore, using heat exchangers to recover the low temperature waste heat would be the major approach rather than the thermoelectric units [2][3][4].…”