Thermoelectric cooling at cryogenic temperatures

Abstract

Experimental results demonstrating Peltier cooling below 10 K are reported, using crystals of the thermoelectric cerium hexaboride (CeB6). Direct measurements of the Peltier cooling showed δT up to ∼0.2 K in magnitude at T∼4–5 K. All three kinetic parameters: resistivity (ρ), heat conductivity (k), and Seebeck coefficient (S), characterizing the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT=S2T/ρk, were measured, giving high-confidence results.

Nernst Effect in Semimetals: The Effective Mass and the Figure of Merit

“…Recently, Harutyunyan et al [34] used CeB 6 (with S ≃ 120µV /K around 6 K) to construct a Peltier cooler at cryogenic temperatures [34]. In the case of an Ettingshausen refrigerator, the relevant parameter is the thermomagnetic figure of merit ZT ǫ = N 2 σT κ [24] and √ L 0 sets a similar threshold for N .…”

Thermoelectric properties of YMn4+xAl8−x for −2≤x≤2.5

“…Thus, the density of states around the hybridization gap becomes very large, which may affect S considerably [11]. This behavior has been shown in several compounds, such as FeSi [12,13], FeSb 2 Sn [11], CeB 6 [14], CeFe 4 P 12 [10,15], and Ce 3 Sb 4 Pt 3 [16][17][18][19], all of which exhibit peaks in S at low temperatures.…”

Novel borothermal route for the synthesis of lanthanum cerium hexaborides and their field emission properties

“…Among the known metal hexaborides, lanthanum and cerium hexaborides show the Kondo effect [7,8]. Lanthanum and cerium hexaborides have been used for EM-guns, solid-state cryocooling [9] and single-photon detection [10]. These hexaborides have a CsCl-type cubic structure in which boron atoms form octahedra at every corner of a cube and the rareearth is present in the body centered position [11].…”