High performance thermoelectric module through isotype bulk heterojunction engineering of skutterudite materials

Ge Nie; Wenjie Li; Junqing Guo; Atsushi Yamamoto; Kaoru Kimura; Xiaomi Zhang; Eric B. Isaacs; Vinayak Dravid; Chris Wolverton; Mercouri G. Kanatzidis; Shashank Priya

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104193

High performance thermoelectric module through isotype bulk heterojunction engineering of skutterudite materials

Ge Nie, Wenjie Li, Junqing Guo, Atsushi Yamamoto, Kaoru Kimura, Xiaomi Zhang, Eric B. Isaacs, Vinayak Dravid, Chris Wolverton, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, Shashank Priya

Northwestern University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We demonstrate filled CoSb₃ skutterudite materials with excellent thermoelectric (TE) performance that results in one of the highest reported single stage module efficiency. The improvement in TE material performance was obtained by creating isotype n/n “bulk heterojunction” structure through assembly of novel skutterudite nanocrystals with different Yb-doping content. Combination of significant increase in carrier transport through heterojunction structure and reduction in long-range acoustic phonon transmission by two-phase mixture resulted in enhanced power factor and reduced lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, the figure-of-merit (zT) of heterojunction TE material is improved by more than 35% compared with pristine single homogeneous material. Using these improved TE materials, a high module conversion efficiency of ~9.15% was obtained when operating between 650 °C and 50 °C. This is one of the highest conversion efficiency among the practically measured single stage modules.

Original language	English
Article number	104193
Journal	Nano Energy
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104193
Publication status	Accepted/In press - Jan 1 2019

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Keywords

Bulk heterojunction
Conversion efficiency
Nano grain engineering
Skutterudite
Thermoelectric

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Materials Science(all)
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Cite this

Nie, G., Li, W., Guo, J., Yamamoto, A., Kimura, K., Zhang, X., Isaacs, E. B., Dravid, V., Wolverton, C., Kanatzidis, M. G., & Priya, S. (Accepted/In press). High performance thermoelectric module through isotype bulk heterojunction engineering of skutterudite materials. Nano Energy, [104193]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104193

High performance thermoelectric module through isotype bulk heterojunction engineering of skutterudite materials. / Nie, Ge; Li, Wenjie; Guo, Junqing; Yamamoto, Atsushi; Kimura, Kaoru; Zhang, Xiaomi; Isaacs, Eric B.; Dravid, Vinayak; Wolverton, Chris; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.; Priya, Shashank.

In: Nano Energy, 01.01.2019.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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abstract = "We demonstrate filled CoSb3 skutterudite materials with excellent thermoelectric (TE) performance that results in one of the highest reported single stage module efficiency. The improvement in TE material performance was obtained by creating isotype n/n “bulk heterojunction” structure through assembly of novel skutterudite nanocrystals with different Yb-doping content. Combination of significant increase in carrier transport through heterojunction structure and reduction in long-range acoustic phonon transmission by two-phase mixture resulted in enhanced power factor and reduced lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, the figure-of-merit (zT) of heterojunction TE material is improved by more than 35% compared with pristine single homogeneous material. Using these improved TE materials, a high module conversion efficiency of ~9.15% was obtained when operating between 650 °C and 50 °C. This is one of the highest conversion efficiency among the practically measured single stage modules.",

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AU - Zhang, Xiaomi

AU - Isaacs, Eric B.

AU - Dravid, Vinayak

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AU - Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.

AU - Priya, Shashank

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AB - We demonstrate filled CoSb3 skutterudite materials with excellent thermoelectric (TE) performance that results in one of the highest reported single stage module efficiency. The improvement in TE material performance was obtained by creating isotype n/n “bulk heterojunction” structure through assembly of novel skutterudite nanocrystals with different Yb-doping content. Combination of significant increase in carrier transport through heterojunction structure and reduction in long-range acoustic phonon transmission by two-phase mixture resulted in enhanced power factor and reduced lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, the figure-of-merit (zT) of heterojunction TE material is improved by more than 35% compared with pristine single homogeneous material. Using these improved TE materials, a high module conversion efficiency of ~9.15% was obtained when operating between 650 °C and 50 °C. This is one of the highest conversion efficiency among the practically measured single stage modules.

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Access to Document

10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104193