Thermoelectric power generation in the core of a nuclear reactor

Kempf, Nicholas; Saeidi-Javash, Mortaza; Xu, Haowei; Cheng, Sheng; Dubey, Megha; Wu, Yaqiao; Daw, Joshua E.; Li, Ju; Zhang, Yanliang

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115949

Thermoelectric power generation in the core of a nuclear reactor

Journal Article · Sat Jul 09 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Energy Conversion and Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115949· OSTI ID:2202482

Kempf, Nicholas ^[1]; Saeidi-Javash, Mortaza ^[1]; Xu, Haowei ^[2]; Cheng, Sheng ^[3]; Dubey, Megha ^[3]; Wu, Yaqiao ^[3]; ^[4]; Li, Ju ^[2]; Zhang, Yanliang ^[1]

University of Notre Dame, IN (United States)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Boise State University, ID (United States); Center for Advanced Energy Studies, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Thermoelectric energy converters offer a promising solution to generate electrical power using heat in the nuclear reactor core. Despite significant improvements in thermoelectric efficiency of nanostructured materials, the performance of these advanced materials has yet to be demonstrated in the harsh radiation environment of a reactor core. Herein, we demonstrate a thermoelectric generator (TEG) made from nanostructured bulk half-Heusler (HH) materials generating stable electrical power density > 1140 W/m² after 30 days in the MIT Nuclear Research Reactor under an unprecedented fast-neutron (>1 MeV) fluence of 1.5 × 10²⁰ n/cm². Despite an initial degradation due to irradiation damage when operating under relatively low temperatures, our TEG showed a 20-fold increase in power output when operating under high temperature due to in-situ annealing and resulting thermoelectric property recovery. First-principles modeling indicates that a chemically disordered metallic phase was formed under irradiation at lower temperatures, resulting in a drastic degradation in thermoelectric properties, while at sufficiently high temperatures the system returned to the initial chemically ordered HH phase and the thermoelectric properties recovered. Transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction demonstrated that the chemically disordered phase was formed upon ion irradiation, confirming the prediction from first-principles simulations. Furthermore, the results suggest that with proper control over the TEG operating temperatures, the nanostructured bulk TEGs could produce stable electrical power and operate indefinitely in the core of a nuclear reactor.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517; NE0008812

OSTI ID:: 2202482

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU--22-67241-Rev000

Journal Information:: Energy Conversion and Management, Journal Name: Energy Conversion and Management Journal Issue: - Vol. 268; ISSN 0196-8904

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (38)

Beneficial Contribution of Alloy Disorder to Electron and Phonon Transport in Half-Heusler Thermoelectric Materials Xie, Hanhui; Wang, Heng; Pei, Yanzhong Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 41 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201300663	journal	April 2013
Enhancement in Thermoelectric Figure-Of-Merit of an N-Type Half-Heusler Compound by the Nanocomposite Approach Joshi, Giri; Yan, Xiao; Wang, Hengzhi Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 1, Issue 4, p. 643-647 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201100126	journal	May 2011
Effect of Hf Concentration on Thermoelectric Properties of Nanostructured N-Type Half-Heusler Materials Hf _x Zr _1-x NiSn _0.99 Sb _0.01 Chen, Shuo; Lukas, Kevin C.; Liu, Weishu Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201300336	journal	May 2013
Irradiation effects on thermoelectric materials Danko, J. C.; Kilp, G. R.; Mitchell, P. V. Advanced Energy Conversion, Vol. 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/0365-1789(62)90011-5	journal	January 1962
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set Kresse, G.; Furthmüller, J. Computational Materials Science, Vol. 6, Issue 1, p. 15-50 https://doi.org/10.1016/0927-0256(96)00008-0	journal	July 1996
An updated version of wannier90: A tool for obtaining maximally-localised Wannier functions Mostofi, Arash A.; Yates, Jonathan R.; Pizzi, Giovanni Computer Physics Communications, Vol. 185, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2014.05.003	journal	August 2014
Evolution of nuclear fission reactors: Third generation and beyond Marques, J. G. Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 51, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2009.12.043	journal	September 2010
High-temperature and high-power-density nanostructured thermoelectric generator for automotive waste heat recovery Zhang, Yanliang; Cleary, Martin; Wang, Xiaowei Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 105 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.08.051	journal	November 2015
Design and optimization of automotive thermoelectric generators for maximum fuel efficiency improvement Kempf, Nicholas; Zhang, Yanliang Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 121 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2016.05.035	journal	August 2016
Thermoelectric generators: A review of applications Champier, Daniel Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 140 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.02.070	journal	May 2017
Influence of fast neutron and gamma irradiation on the thermoelectric properties of n-type and p-type SiGe alloy Li, Yixiao; Li, Jing; Du, Jinfeng Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 528 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151856	journal	January 2020
Recent progress in half-Heusler thermoelectric materials Huang, Lihong; Zhang, Qinyong; Yuan, Bo Materials Research Bulletin, Vol. 76 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.materresbull.2015.11.032	journal	April 2016
Recent progress of half-Heusler for moderate temperature thermoelectric applications Chen, Shuo; Ren, Zhifeng Materials Today, Vol. 16, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2013.09.015	journal	October 2013
Enhancement of thermoelectric figure-of-merit at low temperatures by titanium substitution for hafnium in n-type half-Heuslers Hf_0.75−xTi_xZr_0.25NiSn_0.99Sb_0.01 Joshi, Giri; Dahal, Tulashi; Chen, Shuo Nano Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 1, p. 82-87 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2012.07.020	journal	January 2013
Engineering half-Heusler thermoelectric materials using Zintl chemistry Zeier, Wolfgang G.; Schmitt, Jennifer; Hautier, Geoffroy Nature Reviews Materials, Vol. 1, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2016.32	journal	May 2016
Realizing high figure of merit in heavy-band p-type half-Heusler thermoelectric materials Fu, Chenguang; Bai, Shengqiang; Liu, Yintu Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9144	journal	September 2015
Establishing the carrier scattering phase diagram for ZrNiSn-based half-Heusler thermoelectric materials Ren, Qingyong; Fu, Chenguang; Qiu, Qinyi Nature Communications, Vol. 11, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16913-2	journal	June 2020
Breaking thermoelectric performance limits Iversen, Bo Brummerstedt Nature Materials, Vol. 20, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01065-5	journal	August 2021
Thermoelectric performance of a metastable thin-film Heusler alloy Hinterleitner, B.; Knapp, I.; Poneder, M. Nature, Vol. 576, Issue 7785 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1751-9	journal	November 2019
Demonstration of a phonon-glass electron-crystal strategy in (Hf,Zr)NiSn half-Heusler thermoelectric materials by alloying Liu, Yintu; Xie, Hanhui; Fu, Chenguang Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 3, Issue 45 https://doi.org/10.1039/C5TA04418A	journal	January 2015
A prospective on energy and environmental science Lewis, Nathan S. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 12, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/C8EE90070A	journal	January 2019
Realization of higher thermoelectric performance by dynamic doping of copper in n-type PbTe You, Li; Zhang, Jiye; Pan, Shanshan Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 12, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1039/C9EE01137D	journal	January 2019
Realizing record high performance in n-type Bi₂Te₃-based thermoelectric materials Zhu, Bin; Liu, Xixi; Wang, Qi Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 13, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE01349H	journal	January 2020
Unveiling the phonon scattering mechanisms in half-Heusler thermoelectric compounds He, Ran; Zhu, Taishan; Wang, Yumei Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 13, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE03014G	journal	January 2020
Extraordinary role of Zn in enhancing thermoelectric performance of Ga-doped n-type PbTe Luo, Zhong-Zhen; Cai, Songting; Hao, Shiqiang Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 15, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/D1EE02986J	journal	January 2022
Ultrahigh carrier mobility contributes to remarkably enhanced thermoelectric performance in n-type PbSe Xiao, Yu; Xu, Liqing; Hong, Tao Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 15, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/D1EE03339E	journal	January 2022
A climbing image nudged elastic band method for finding saddle points and minimum energy paths Henkelman, Graeme; Uberuaga, Blas P.; Jónsson, Hannes The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 113, Issue 22, p. 9901-9904 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1329672	journal	December 2000
Effects of partial substitution of Ni by Pd on the thermoelectric properties of ZrNiSn-based half-Heusler compounds Shen, Q.; Chen, L.; Goto, T. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 79, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1425459	journal	December 2001
Strain field fluctuation effects on lattice thermal conductivity of ZrNiSn-based thermoelectric compounds Yang, J.; Meisner, G. P.; Chen, L. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 85, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1783022	journal	August 2004
Effect of Ti substitution on the thermoelectric properties of (Zr,Hf)NiSn half-Heusler compounds Sakurada, S.; Shutoh, N. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1868063	journal	February 2005
A robust high sensitivity scanning thermal probe for simultaneous microscale thermal and thermoelectric property mapping Kempf, Nicholas; Zhang, Yanliang Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 119, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0058661	journal	September 2021
Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb He, Ran; Kraemer, Daniel; Mao, Jun Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 48 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1617663113	journal	November 2016
Changes produced in thermoelectric materials by thermal-neutron irradiation Idnurm, M.; Landecker, K. British Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 18, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/0508-3443/18/8/422	journal	August 1967
Inhomogeneous Electron Gas Hohenberg, P.; Kohn, W. Physical Review, Vol. 136, Issue 3B, p. B864-B871 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.136.B864	journal	November 1964
Self-Consistent Equations Including Exchange and Correlation Effects Kohn, W.; Sham, L. J. Physical Review, Vol. 140, Issue 4A, p. A1133-A1138 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.140.A1133	journal	November 1965
Projector augmented-wave method Blöchl, P. E. Physical Review B, Vol. 50, Issue 24, p. 17953-17979 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.50.17953	journal	December 1994
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set Kresse, G.; Furthmüller, J. Physical Review B, Vol. 54, Issue 16, p. 11169-11186 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.54.11169	journal	October 1996
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple Perdew, John P.; Burke, Kieron; Ernzerhof, Matthias Physical Review Letters, Vol. 77, Issue 18, p. 3865-3868 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.3865	journal	October 1996

Similar Records

Conformal High-Power-Density Half-Heusler Thermoelectric Modules: A Pathway toward Practical Power Generators

Journal Article · Mon Oct 25 20:00:00 EDT 2021 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces · OSTI ID:1832868

High-Performance Thermoelectric Generators for Field Deployments

Journal Article · Sun Feb 09 19:00:00 EST 2020 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces · OSTI ID:1602177

Direct Energy Conversion for Fast Reactors

Technical Report · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2000 · OSTI ID:793577

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Self Powered
Thermoelectric

Thermoelectric power generation in the core of a nuclear reactor

Citation Formats

References (38)

Similar Records

Related Subjects