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New Trends in Thermoelectric Materials and Thin Films
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New Trends in Thermoelectric Materials and Thin Films

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Thin Films and Interfaces".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2022) | Viewed by 13522

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Zihang Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Interests: thermoelectric materials; powder metallurgy; mechanical alloying; thin film; thermal property; electrical property
Prof. Dr. Takao Mori

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan
2. Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba 305-8671, Japan
Interests: thermoelectrics; magnetism; thermal conductivity; inorganic materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of accelerated energy demand and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, efficient utilization of clean and renewable energy has attracted extensive interest in the last two decades. Thermoelectric power generation (TEG) is capable of directly converting waste heat into electricity and could play a vital role in energy harvesting. Thermoelectric devices show unique advantages of having no moving parts or pollutants, being lightweight, and having high reliability and simplicity. Recently, the Internet of Things (IoT) has experienced explosive growth and has the potential to transform all aspects of modern life. Since the power consumption of a single IoT node is very small (micro-scale watts (or joules)), thermoelectric thin film could be an intuitive and efficient candidate for powering IoT nodes via energy harvesting from body heat, waste heat, or unutilized heat and may shape the power that supplies electronics in the near future.

We have witnessed remarkable progress in enhancing thermoelectric performance through electron and phonon engineering, leading to the discovery of some new high-performance compounds as well as the successful fabrication of high-efficiency modules. Material scientists, chemists, and physicists are also attempting some new strategies to enrich this interesting field. Therefore, this Special Issue will focus on the recent advances and new trends in thermoelectric materials and thin films, ranging from material study to device development.

We kindly invite you to submit a manuscript, or manuscripts, for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Zihang Liu
Prof. Takao Mori
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • thermoelectric materials
  • thermoelectric devices
  • thermoelectric thin films
  • first principles calculations
  • thermoelectric energy harvesting

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 9892 KiB  
Article
Phase Change Material (PCM) Composite Supported by 3D Cross-Linked Porous Graphene Aerogel
by Chengbin Yu and Young Seok Song
Materials 2022, 15(13), 4541; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15134541 - 28 Jun 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2362
Abstract
Integration of form-stable phase change material (PCM) composites with a pyro system can provide sufficient electrical energy during the light-on/off process. In this work, modified 3D porous graphene aerogel is utilized as a reliable supporting material to effectively reduce volume shrinkage during the [...] Read more.
Integration of form-stable phase change material (PCM) composites with a pyro system can provide sufficient electrical energy during the light-on/off process. In this work, modified 3D porous graphene aerogel is utilized as a reliable supporting material to effectively reduce volume shrinkage during the infiltration process. Poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) is used for a transparent pyro film in the pyro system. The temperature fluctuation gives rise to a noise effect that restricts the generation of energy harvesting. The cross-linked graphene aerogel consisting of PCM composites can stabilize the temperature fluctuation in both melting and cooling processes. This shows that PCM composites can be applied to the pyro system under the change of the external environment. To evaluate the experimental results, a numerical simulation was conducted by using the finite element method (FEM). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Thermoelectric Materials and Thin Films)
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17 pages, 2975 KiB  
Article
Off-Centered Pb Interstitials in PbTe
by Sungjin Park, Byungki Ryu and SuDong Park
Materials 2022, 15(4), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15041272 - 9 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2148
Abstract
Previous calculations have demonstrated that Te vacancies are energetically the major defects in PbTe. However, the Pb interstitials are also important because experiments have shown that the volume of Pb-rich PbTe increases at a higher Pb content. In this study, density functional theory [...] Read more.
Previous calculations have demonstrated that Te vacancies are energetically the major defects in PbTe. However, the Pb interstitials are also important because experiments have shown that the volume of Pb-rich PbTe increases at a higher Pb content. In this study, density functional theory calculations were used to investigate the defect properties of low-symmetry Pb interstitials in PbTe. By breaking the higher symmetry imposed on the on-centered interstitial defects, the lowest ground state of Pb interstitial defects is off-centered along the [1¯1¯1¯] direction. Because of the four multi-stable structures with low defect-formation energies, the defect density of Pb interstitials is expected to be approximately six times higher than previous predictions for PbTe synthesized at 900 K. In contrast to the on-centered Pb interstitials, the off-centered Pb interstitials in PbTe can exhibit long-range lattice relaxation in the [111] direction beyond a distance of 1 nm, indicating the potential formation of weak local dipoles. This result provides an alternative explanation for the emphanitic anharmonicity of PbTe in the high-temperature regime. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Thermoelectric Materials and Thin Films)
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7 pages, 1717 KiB  
Article
Flexible Thermoelectric Generator Based on Polycrystalline SiGe Thin Films
by Tomoki Ozawa, Masayuki Murata, Takashi Suemasu and Kaoru Toko
Materials 2022, 15(2), 608; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15020608 - 14 Jan 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2363
Abstract
Flexible and reliable thermoelectric generators (TEGs) will be essential for future energy harvesting sensors. In this study, we synthesized p- and n-type SiGe layers on a high heat-resistant polyimide film using metal-induced layer exchange (LE) and demonstrated TEG operation. Despite the low process [...] Read more.
Flexible and reliable thermoelectric generators (TEGs) will be essential for future energy harvesting sensors. In this study, we synthesized p- and n-type SiGe layers on a high heat-resistant polyimide film using metal-induced layer exchange (LE) and demonstrated TEG operation. Despite the low process temperature (<500 °C), the polycrystalline SiGe layers showed high power factors of 560 µW m−1 K−2 for p-type Si0.4Ge0.6 and 390 µW m−1 K−2 for n-type Si0.85Ge0.15, owing to self-organized doping in LE. Furthermore, the power factors indicated stable behavior with changing measurement temperature, an advantage of SiGe as an inorganic material. An in-plane π-type TEG based on these SiGe layers showed an output power of 0.45 µW cm−2 at near room temperature for a 30 K temperature gradient. This achievement will enable the development of environmentally friendly and highly reliable flexible TEGs for operating micro-energy devices in the future Internet of Things. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Thermoelectric Materials and Thin Films)
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11 pages, 2821 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Reactive Electric Field-Assisted Sintering of MoS2/Bi2Te3 Heterostructure on the Phase Integrity of Bi2Te3 Matrix and the Thermoelectric Properties
by Yanan Wang, Cédric Bourgès, Ralph Rajamathi, C. Nethravathi, Michael Rajamathi and Takao Mori
Materials 2022, 15(1), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15010053 - 22 Dec 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2936
Abstract
In this work, a series of Bi2Te3/X mol% MoS2 (X = 0, 25, 50, 75) bulk nanocomposites were prepared by hydrothermal reaction followed by reactive spark plasma sintering (SPS). X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) indicates that the native nanopowders, [...] Read more.
In this work, a series of Bi2Te3/X mol% MoS2 (X = 0, 25, 50, 75) bulk nanocomposites were prepared by hydrothermal reaction followed by reactive spark plasma sintering (SPS). X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) indicates that the native nanopowders, comprising of Bi2Te3/MoS2 heterostructure, are highly reactive during the electric field-assisted sintering by SPS. The nano-sized MoS2 particles react with the Bi2Te3 plates matrix forming a mixed-anion compound, Bi2Te2S, at the interface between the nanoplates. The transport properties characterizations revealed a significant influence of the nanocomposite structure formation on the native electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity of the initial Bi2Te3 matrix. As a result, enhanced ZT values have been obtained in Bi2Te3/25 mol% MoS2 over the temperature range of 300–475 K induced mainly by a significant increase in the electrical conductivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Thermoelectric Materials and Thin Films)
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15 pages, 2361 KiB  
Article
Overcoming Asymmetric Contact Resistances in Al-Contacted Mg2(Si,Sn) Thermoelectric Legs
by Julia Camut, Sahar Ayachi, Gustavo Castillo-Hernández, Sungjin Park, Byungki Ryu, Sudong Park, Adina Frank, Christian Stiewe, Eckhard Müller and Johannes de Boor
Materials 2021, 14(22), 6774; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14226774 - 10 Nov 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2429
Abstract
Thermoelectric generators are a reliable and environmentally friendly source of electrical energy. A crucial step for their development is the maximization of their efficiency. The efficiency of a TEG is inversely related to its electrical contact resistance, which it is therefore essential to [...] Read more.
Thermoelectric generators are a reliable and environmentally friendly source of electrical energy. A crucial step for their development is the maximization of their efficiency. The efficiency of a TEG is inversely related to its electrical contact resistance, which it is therefore essential to minimize. In this paper, we investigate the contacting of an Al electrode on Mg2(Si,Sn) thermoelectric material and find that samples can show highly asymmetric electrical contact resistivities on both sides of a leg (e.g., 10 µΩ·cm2 and 200 µΩ·cm2). Differential contacting experiments allow one to identify the oxide layer on the Al foil as well as the dicing of the pellets into legs are identified as the main origins of this behavior. In order to avoid any oxidation of the foil, a thin layer of Zn is sputtered after etching the Al surface; this method proves itself effective in keeping the contact resistivities of both interfaces equally low (<10 µΩ·cm2) after dicing. A slight gradient is observed in the n-type leg’s Seebeck coefficient after the contacting with the Zn-coated electrode and the role of Zn in this change is confirmed by comparing the experimental results to hybrid-density functional calculations of Zn point defects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Thermoelectric Materials and Thin Films)
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