n-type thermoelectric material Mg 2 Sn 0.75 Ge 0.25 for high power generation
Abstract
Thermoelectric materials have been extensively studied for applications in conversion of waste heat into electricity. The efficiency is related to the figure-of-merit, ZT = ( S 2 σ / κ ) T , where S , σ , and κ are the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity, respectively. Pursuing higher ZT for higher efficiency has been the focus by mainly reducing the thermal conductivity. In this paper, we point out, for a given ZT , higher power factor ( S 2 σ ) should be pursued for achieving more power because power is determined by ( T h − T c ) 2 ( S 2 σ )/ L , where T h , T c , and L are the hot and cold side temperatures, and leg length, respectively. We found a new material, Mg 2 Sn 0.75 Ge 0.25 , having both high ZT and high power factor.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 02, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1424388112
Entities
People
- Bing Lv
- Ching-Wu Chu
- Cyril P. Opeil
- Hee Seok Kim
- Mengliang Yao
- Qing Jie
- Shuo Chen
- Stephen D Wilson
- Weishu Liu
- Zhensong Ren
- Zhifeng Ren
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Boston College
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Houston