Evolution of thermoelectric performance for (Bi,Sb)2Te3 alloys from cutting waste powders to bulks with high figure of merit

Fan, Xiaoliang; Cai, Xin; Han, Xue; Zhang, Cheng Cheng; Rong, Zhen Zhou; Yang, Fan; Li, Guangqiang

doi:10.1016/j.jssc.2015.10.030

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In a series of experiments, Fan and co‐workers [ 98–100 ] used different types of wastes discarded during the industrial synthesis of Bi 2 Te 3 ingots as raw materials to prepare p‐type Bi 2 Te 3 ‐based TE materials. The wastes were powders and fragments resulting from cutting Bi 2 Te 3 wafers and particles resulting from cutting process of zone melting.…”

Section: Use Of Wastes In the Synthesis Of Te Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The wastes were powders and fragments resulting from cutting Bi 2 Te 3 wafers and particles resulting from cutting process of zone melting. [ 98–100 ] The waste powders obtained from the cutting of wafers contained high amounts of carbon and oxygen, which came from the linear cutting liquid, and oxides of Bi, Te, and Sb ( Table 3 ). All the waste materials were washed with deionized water and absolute ethyl alcohol to remove the contamination by the linear cutting liquid.…”

Section: Use Of Wastes In the Synthesis Of Te Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…κ values of Bi 2 Te 3 alloys starting from waste particles derived from the cutting process of the zone melting (waste C) are not reported; therefore, zT values of the final compounds are not reported in (b). [ 98–100 ] The legends are for both (a) and (b).…”

Section: Use Of Wastes In the Synthesis Of Te Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Waste Recycling in Thermoelectric Materials

Bahrami

Schierning

Nielsch

2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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power plants, factories, motor vehicles, computers, or even human bodies into electricity. TEGs are suitable for small applications because of their compatibility, simplicity, and scalability. For example, electricity can be generated from small heat sources and by taking advantage of small temperature differences for powering wristwatches or wearable devices such as miniaturized accelerometers or electroencephalography (EEG) devices. [3,4] However, low efficiency and high fabrication cost are the main disadvantages of TEGs which hinder their vast application in the market. Although many studies have explored the ways to increase the efficiency of TEGs in converting the thermal to electric energy, cost of TE materials synthesis and miniaturized TEGs fabrication has not been addressed widely.TEGs require materials with high electrical conductivities and low thermal conductivities, as well as high thermopower (Seebeck coefficient, S) which in turn constrains the types of materials that can be used as a TE material. The direct conversion of thermal to electrical energy in response to a temperature gradient across a material can be calculated by using the following equationwhere ΔV is the generated voltage, S is the Seebeck coefficient or thermopower, and ΔT is the temperature difference. The performance of a TE material is defined by the dimensionless figure of merit (zT), which relates the material properties to its conversion efficiency, in the following way 2 l e ZT S T σ κ κ ) ( = +where σ is the electrical conductivity, κ l and κ e are the lattice and electronic contributions to the thermal conductivity of TE material, respectively, and T is the absolute temperature. High S 2 σ (power factor, PF) and low thermal conductivity, κ = κ l + κ e , lead to better performance. In practice, however, the mutual dependence between these material properties makes an optimization of zT difficult. For many decades since the 1950s, when research and development of bulk homogenous materials for TE applications started to increase, research and development efforts focused on elements derived from raw materials for synthesizing TE materials. The compounds synthesized from raw elements such as Thermoelectric (TE) technology enables the efficient conversion of waste heat generated in homes, transport, and industry into promptly accessible electrical energy. Such technology is thus finding increasing applications given the focus on alternative sources of energy. However, the synthesis of TE materials relies on costly and scarce elements, which are also environmentally damaging to extract. Moreover, spent TE modules lead to a waste of resources and cause severe pollution. To address these issues, many laboratory studies have explored the synthesis of TE materials using wastes and the recovery of scarce elements from spent modules, e.g., utilization of Si slurry as starting materials, development of biodegradable TE papers, and bacterial recovery and recycling of tellurium from spent TE modules. Yet, the outcomes of such work have no...

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Section: Use Of Wastes In the Synthesis Of Te Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Use Of Wastes In the Synthesis Of Te Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Waste Recycling in Thermoelectric Materials

Bahrami

Schierning

Nielsch

2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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“…Typically, the fabrication of TEG devices involves a series of processes, such as the synthesis of bulk ingots via zone melting, dicing, plating cleaning, and soldering [20][21][22][23]. During device fabrication, expensive material resources are wasted because many scraps are unavoidably produced [24][25][26]. The recycling of waste scraps by grinding them into powders and then synthesizing them into high-performance samples is an excellent industrial achievement with reduced costs, energy consumption, and environmental friendliness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microstructure Evolution in Plastic Deformed Bismuth Telluride for the Enhancement of Thermoelectric Properties

et al. 2022

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Thermoelectric generators are solid-state energy-converting devices that are promising alternative energy sources. However, during the fabrication of these devices, many waste scraps that are not eco-friendly and with high material cost are produced. In this work, a simple powder processing technology is applied to prepare n-type Bi2Te3 pellets by cold pressing (high pressure at room temperature) and annealing the treatment with a canning package to recycle waste scraps. High-pressure cold pressing causes the plastic deformation of densely packed pellets. Then, the thermoelectric properties of pellets are improved through high-temperature annealing (500 ∘C) without phase separation. This enhancement occurs because tellurium cannot escape from the canning package. In addition, high-temperature annealing induces rapid grain growth and rearrangement, resulting in a porous structure. Electrical conductivity is increased by abnormal grain growth, whereas thermal conductivity is decreased by the porous structure with phonon scattering. Owing to the low thermal conductivity and satisfactory electrical conductivity, the highest ZT value (i.e., 1.0) is obtained by the samples annealed at 500 ∘C. Hence, the proposed method is suitable for a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way.

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“…Reducing the dimensions to obtained the high zT values (~1.5), and high energy conversion efficiency via preparing thin films [34][35][36] . Even so, there is still lack of attention was payed to the zT avg values, and most zT avg values of the stat-of-the-art studies are blow 1.0 [37][38][39][40] due to the rapid decay in the zT curve at high temperature. For the commercial application, the materials with high zT avg values and wide application temperature range are still desired.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bi(2-x)SbxTe3 Thermoelectric Composites with High Average zT Values: From Materials to Devices

Wang¹

2022

MatLab

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(Bi,Sb)Te-based materials have drawn extensive attention for nearly two centuries as one of the most successful commercial thermoelectric (TE) materials. However, Bi(2-x)SbxTe3 composites with remarkable average figure of merit (zTavg) values are highly desired in terms of the great contribution on expanding the applying temperature ranges of the commercial devices. Herein, Bi0.35Sb1.65Te3 compound with outstanding zTavg value of about 1.18 (integrate from 298 to 498 K) was obtained via delaying the bipolar effect by precipitating multi-scale Sb2Te3 inclusions. The power factor (PF) was enhanced from 2.1×10−3 Wm−1 K−2 (Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3) to 4.3×10−3 Wm−1 K−2 (Bi0.35Sb1.65Te3) by optimizing the carrier concentration from 1.9×1019 cm−3 to 3.9×1019 cm−3 via adjusting the proportions of Bi:Sb. Correspondingly, the lattice thermal conductivities (kl) were distinctly suppressed by the additional multiple phonon scattering resulting from the Sb2Te3 precipitates. Consequently, a remarkable zTmax, as high as ~1.35 at 373 K was obtained in the Bi0.35Sb1.65Te3 sample. The temperature difference ( T, 6.0 A current) of the TE device that assembled with the commercial N-type Bi(Te,Se) ingot has reached up to 66.9 K. The high zTavg, zTmax and T values will further promote the commercial applications of (Bi,Sb)Te-based materials in a wide temperature range.

show abstract

Evolution of thermoelectric performance for (Bi,Sb)2Te3 alloys from cutting waste powders to bulks with high figure of merit

Cited by 15 publications

References 30 publications

Waste Recycling in Thermoelectric Materials

Waste Recycling in Thermoelectric Materials

Microstructure Evolution in Plastic Deformed Bismuth Telluride for the Enhancement of Thermoelectric Properties

Bi(2-x)SbxTe3 Thermoelectric Composites with High Average zT Values: From Materials to Devices

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