Thermoelectric power generation materials: Technology and application opportunities

Abstract

How would you… …describe the overall signifi cance of this paper? This paper highlights materials and device performance requirements for enabling penetration of thermoelectric power generation technology in various large-scale waste heat recovery applications. An overview of recent advances in materials research and development is provided, together with a brief assessment of the maturity of hightemperature thermoelectric and converter technology. …describe this work to a materials science and engineering professional with no experience in your technical specialty? Recent advances in materials synthesis techniques, theoretical modeling and design engineering of complex structure compounds, nanostructured composite materials have led to signifi cant improvements in the thermoelectric fi gure of merit of some high-temperature materials. Novel approaches to thermalto-electric device and converter technology developments that make use of these new materials are briefl y described. Selected potential large-scale waste heat recovery power applications are listed. …describe this work to a layperson? There are very signifi cant opportunities for producing electricity from waste heat recovered from a variety of energy-intensive industrial processes and the exhaust of transportation vehicles. Thermoelectric technology has some unique advantages in terms of ease of integration for retrofi tting existing industrial equipment, hybridizing with other power technologies as topping or bottoming cycles, unique scalability and modularity, and low maintenance requirements. Recent advances in thermoelectric materials and device technologies could enable cost-effective applications. Jean-Pierre Fleurial is technical group supervisor/ principal with the Jet Propulsion

Examination of CeFe4Sb12 upon exposure to air: Is this material appropriate for use in terrestrial, high-temperature thermoelectric devices?

“…One suggestion has been to convert the waste heat generated by exhaust systems to electricity using thermoelectric devices to power various vehicle functions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. (This technology has also been examined for the production of electricity using waste heat from power facilities and manufacturing plants [4,6].)…”

“…One suggestion has been to convert the waste heat generated by exhaust systems to electricity using thermoelectric devices to power various vehicle functions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. (This technology has also been examined for the production of electricity using waste heat from power facilities and manufacturing plants [4,6].) To operate over a wide temperature range, coupled p-and n-type materials containing low-temperature (e.g., Bi 2 Te 3 ) and high-temperature (e.g., rare-earth filled skutterudites; CeFe 1−x Co x Sb 12 ) thermoelectric compounds have been proposed [1,3,8].…”

“…To operate over a wide temperature range, coupled p-and n-type materials containing low-temperature (e.g., Bi 2 Te 3 ) and high-temperature (e.g., rare-earth filled skutterudites; CeFe 1−x Co x Sb 12 ) thermoelectric compounds have been proposed [1,3,8]. The rare-earth filled skutterudites have become popular as candidate materials for terrestrial, high-temperature thermoelectric applications and have also been investigated for the next-generation of radioisotopic thermoelectric generators for deep-space applications (previous incarnations have already been used for >30 years) [1,3,4,7,8]. For the applications listed above, skutterudite materials may experience a considerable temperature range and it is important to understand the stability of these materials under operating conditions [3].…”

Flexible and Cellulose-based Organic Electronics

“…One such example is space probes where the thermal gradient comes from a radioactive isotope. [113] Such a system does not have any moving parts, is neither affected by day-night cycle or dust/sand coating, so it is very robust and can survive for long times. Thermoelectric generators have also been envisioned to harvest waste heat in applications such as factory machines, cars and power plants.…”

Thermal insulator transition induced by interface scattering

“…3,4 Since the efficiency of a TE device increases with the figure of merit ZT , 5 which is proportional to temperature, improving the insulation of a TE device leads to less lateral heat loss, larger operating temperatures, and thus higher efficiency. 2 On the other hand, TIMs are needed to transfer heat from semiconductor devices such as transistors to a heat sink or heat spreader. 3,4,6 Improving the thermal conductivity of TIMs reduces the thermal resistance of the heat transfer system and lowers the operating temperature of the underlying device, improving lifetime and reliability.…”