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Research on Thermoelectric Materials and Devices: New Advances in Improving Thermoelectric Efficiency

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Electronic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2025 | Viewed by 2105

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Margarita Tsaousidou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Materials Science Department, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Interests: Thermoelectricity; electrical and thermal transport properties; electron-phonon coupling; phonon-drag effect; semiconductor heterostructures (i.e., quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots); carbon nanotubes; graphene; theory and simulations.

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The design of thermoelectric materials with improved efficiency in order to convert heat into electricity and vice versa has attracted a great deal of theoretical and experimental research interest in the last two decades. Fundamentally understanding the mechanisms that govern heat and carrier transport is the key to producing high-performance thermoelectric devices with cooling and power generation applications.

The efficiency of energy conversion is measured by the dimensionless figure of merit ZT, which is the product of the square of thermopower,  electrical conductivity and temperature divided by the thermal conductivity.  Good thermoelectric materials are those with ZT > 3 at room temperature. In principle, ZT can be increased by increasing the thermopower and electrical conductivity and by reducing the thermal conductivity. However, the interrelations between the above transport coefficients make their independent variation a challenging task. 

The aim of this Special Issue is to present new developments in the optimization of ZT by tuning the electron or/and phonon transport properties of both inorganic and organic semiconductors. Theoretical and experimental studies on materials of reduced dimensionality (2D, 1D, and 0D) are particularly encouraged.  Emphasis is given to band-gap engineering, the control of electron and phonon scattering mechanisms, and electron–phonon coupling (i.e., phonon-drag effect). This Special Issue will include both full research and review papers.

Dr. Margarita Tsaousidou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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 efficiency
  • optimization of ZT
  • electron transport
  • phonon transport
  • thermopower
  • thermal conductivity
  • electron–phonon coupling
  • phonon-drag effect

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3818 KiB  
Article
Chalcopyrite CuFeS2: Solid-State Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties
by Jin-Sol Kim and Il-Ho Kim
Materials 2024, 17(22), 5497; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17225497 - 11 Nov 2024
Viewed by 476
Abstract
The optimal conditions for synthesizing a pure chalcopyrite CuFeS2 phase were thoroughly investigated through the combination of mechanical alloying (MA) and hot pressing (HP) processes. The MA process was performed at a rotational speed of 350 rpm for durations ranging from 6 [...] Read more.
The optimal conditions for synthesizing a pure chalcopyrite CuFeS2 phase were thoroughly investigated through the combination of mechanical alloying (MA) and hot pressing (HP) processes. The MA process was performed at a rotational speed of 350 rpm for durations ranging from 6 to 24 h under an Ar atmosphere, ensuring proper mixing and alloying of the starting materials. Afterward, MA-synthesized chalcopyrite powder was subjected to HP at temperatures between 723 K and 823 K under a pressure of 70 MPa for 2 h in a vacuum. This approach aimed to achieve phase consolidation and densification. A thermal analysis via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed distinct endothermic peaks at the range of 740–749 K and 1169–1170 K, corresponding to the synthesis of the chalcopyrite phase and its melting point, respectively. An X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of the tetragonal chalcopyrite phase across all samples. However, a minor secondary phase, identified as Cu1.1Fe1.1S2 (talnakhite), was observed in the sample hot-pressed at the highest temperature of 823 K. This secondary phase could result from slight compositional deviations or local phase transformations at elevated temperatures. The thermoelectric properties of the CuFeS2 samples were evaluated as a function of the HP temperatures. As the HP temperature increased, the electrical conductivity exhibited a corresponding rise, likely due to enhanced densification and reduced grain boundary resistance. However, this increase in electrical conductivity was accompanied by a decrease in both the Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity. The reduction in the Seebeck coefficient could be attributed to the higher carrier concentration resulting from improved electrical conductivity, while the decrease in thermal conductivity was likely due to reduced phonon scattering facilitated by the grain boundaries. Among the samples, the one that was hot-pressed at 773 K displayed the most favorable thermoelectric performance. It achieved the highest power factor of 0.81 mWm−1K−1 at 523 K, indicating a good balance between the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity. Additionally, this sample achieved a maximum figure-of-merit (ZT) of 0.32 at 723 K, a notable value for chalcopyrite-based thermoelectric materials, indicating its potential for mid-range temperature applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Thermoelectric Materials and Devices: New Advances in Improving Thermoelectric Efficiency)
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11 pages, 2405 KiB  
Article
Thermoelectric Performance of Non-Stoichiometric Permingeatite Cu3+mSbSe4
by DanAh Kim and Il-Ho Kim
Materials 2024, 17(17), 4345; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17174345 - 2 Sep 2024
Viewed by 509
Abstract
Non-stoichiometric permingeatites Cu3+mSbSe4 (−0.04 ≤ m ≤ −0.02) were synthesized, and their thermoelectric properties were examined depending on the Cu deficiency. Phase analysis by X-ray diffraction revealed no detection of secondary phases. Due to Cu deficiency, the lattice parameters of [...] Read more.
Non-stoichiometric permingeatites Cu3+mSbSe4 (−0.04 ≤ m ≤ −0.02) were synthesized, and their thermoelectric properties were examined depending on the Cu deficiency. Phase analysis by X-ray diffraction revealed no detection of secondary phases. Due to Cu deficiency, the lattice parameters of tetragonal permingeatite decreased compared to the stoichiometric permingeatite, resulting in a = 0.5654–0.5654 nm and c = 1.1253–1.1254 nm, with a decrease in the c/a ratio in the range of 1.9901–1.9903. Electrical conductivity exhibited typical semiconductor behavior of increasing conductivity with temperature, and above 423 K, the electrical conductivity of all samples exceeded that of stoichiometric permingeatite; Cu2.96SbSe4 exhibited a maximum of 9.8 × 103 Sm−1 at 623 K. The Seebeck coefficient decreased due to Cu deficiency, showing p-type semiconductor behavior similar to stoichiometric permingeatite, with majority carriers being holes. Thermal conductivity showed negative temperature dependence, and both electronic and lattice thermal conductivities increased due to Cu deficiency. Despite the decrease in the Seebeck coefficient due to Cu deficiency, the electrical conductivity increased, resulting in an increase in the power factor (especially a great increase at high temperatures), with Cu2.97SbSe4 exhibiting the highest value of 0.72 mWm−1K−2 at 573 K. As the carrier concentration increased due to Cu deficiency, the thermal conductivity increased, but the increase in power factor was significant, with Cu2.98SbSe4 recording a maximum dimensionless figure-of-merit of 0.50 at 523 K. This value was approximately 28% higher than that (0.39) of stoichiometric Cu3SbSe4. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Thermoelectric Materials and Devices: New Advances in Improving Thermoelectric Efficiency)
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28 pages, 4159 KiB  
Article
Optimization Design and Performance Study of Wearable Thermoelectric Device Using Phase Change Material as Heat Sink
by Jiakai Xin, Guiying Xu, Tao Guo and Bohang Nan
Materials 2024, 17(13), 3266; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17133266 - 2 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 742
Abstract
Wearable thermoelectric generators have great potential to provide power for smart electronic wearable devices and miniature sensors by harnessing the temperature difference between the human body and the environment. However, the Thomson effect, the Joule effect, and heat conduction can cause a decrease [...] Read more.
Wearable thermoelectric generators have great potential to provide power for smart electronic wearable devices and miniature sensors by harnessing the temperature difference between the human body and the environment. However, the Thomson effect, the Joule effect, and heat conduction can cause a decrease in the temperature difference across the thermoelectric generator during operation. In this paper, phase change materials (PCMs) were employed as the heat sink for the thermoelectric generator, and the COMSOL software 6.1 was utilized to simulate and optimize the power generation processes within the heat sink. The results indicated that with a PCM height of 40 mm, phase transition temperature of 293 K, latent heat of 200 kJ/kg, phase transition temperature interval of 5 K, thermal conductivity of 50 W/(m·K), isobaric heat capacity of 2000 J/(Kg·K), density of 1000 kg/m3, and convective heat transfer coefficient of 10 W/(m·K), the device can maintain a temperature difference of 18–10 K for 1930 s when the thermoelectric leg height is 1.6 mm, and 3760 s when the thermoelectric leg height is 2.7 mm. These results demonstrate the correlation between the device’s output performance and the dimensions and performance parameters of the PCM heat sink, thereby validating the feasibility of employing the PCM heat sink and the necessity for systematic investigations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Thermoelectric Materials and Devices: New Advances in Improving Thermoelectric Efficiency)
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