Thermoelectrics with a twist

doi:10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0

Title: Thermoelectrics with a twist

Abstract

Thermoelectrics convert heat into electricity by enabling electron flow across a temperature gradient, but internal electrical resistance from Joule heating is a key limiting factor to conversion efficiency. In the pursuit of material platforms for the next generation of thermoelectrics, topological materials with high electron mobility, including topological insulators and topological semimetals, have attracted substantial attention. Topological insulators support protected current-carrying electron states that are robust to perturbations, reducing electrical resistance.

Authors:

^[1]

Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Publication Date:: 2019-10-28

Research Org.:: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:: 1572368

Report Number(s):: BNL-212241-2019-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 1476-1122

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nature Materials

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 18; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 1476-1122

Publisher:: Springer Nature - Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats


                    Li, Qiang. Thermoelectrics with a twist.  United States: N. p., 2019. 
        Web.  doi:10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0.

Copy to clipboard


                    Li, Qiang. Thermoelectrics with a twist.  United States.  doi:10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0.

Copy to clipboard


                    Li, Qiang. Mon .  
        "Thermoelectrics with a twist".  United States.  doi:10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1572368.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1572368,

  title        = {Thermoelectrics with a twist},

  author       = {Li, Qiang},

  abstractNote = {Thermoelectrics convert heat into electricity by enabling electron flow across a temperature gradient, but internal electrical resistance from Joule heating is a key limiting factor to conversion efficiency. In the pursuit of material platforms for the next generation of thermoelectrics, topological materials with high electron mobility, including topological insulators and topological semimetals, have attracted substantial attention. Topological insulators support protected current-carrying electron states that are robust to perturbations, reducing electrical resistance.},

  doi          = {10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0},

  journal      = {Nature Materials},

  number       = 12,

  volume       = 18,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2019},

  month        = {10}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Figures / Tables:

Figure 1: Topological phase transition in Pb(Te, Se) - Sn(Te, Se). The valance band (VB) and conduction band (CB) in non-trivial topological crystal insulators Sn(Te, Se) have surface states (SS) that are inverted from that of trivial band insulators Pb(Te, Se). The band gap, the difference in energy E betweenmore »

All figures and tables (1 total)

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Works referenced in this record:

The strange topology that is reshaping physics
journal, July 2017

Castelvecchi, Davide
Nature, Vol. 547, Issue 7663
DOI: 10.1038/547272a

Enhancement of thermoelectric performance across the topological phase transition in dense lead selenide
journal, October 2019

Chen, Liu-Cheng; Chen, Pei-Qi; Li, Wei-Jian
Nature Materials, Vol. 18, Issue 12
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0499-9

Band Structure and Laser Action in ${Pb}_{x} {Sn}_{1 - x} Te$
journal, June 1966

Dimmock, J. O.; Melngailis, I.; Strauss, A. J.
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 16, Issue 26, p. 1193-1196
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.16.1193

Introduction to Thermoelectricity
book, January 2010

Goldsmid, H. Julian
Springer Series in Materials Science, Vol. 121
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-00716-3

Large, nonsaturating thermopower in a quantizing magnetic field
journal, May 2018

Skinner, Brian; Fu, Liang
Science Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 5
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat2621

Chiral topological semimetal with multifold band crossings and long Fermi arcs
journal, May 2019

Schröter, Niels B. M.; Pei, Ding; Vergniory, Maia G.
Nature Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 8
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-019-0511-y

Figures / Tables found in this record:

Figure 1 (p. 4)

Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

Prospects of nanostructures Bi{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} for thermoelectricity

Journal Article Nikolaeva, Albina A., E-mail: A.Nikolaeva@nano.asm.md ; International Laboratory of High Magnetic Fields and Low Temperatures, Wroclaw ; Konopko, Leonid A. ; ... - Journal of Solid State Chemistry

It has been predicted that surface states of topological insulators have large a thermopower and also ultrahigh mobilities. The authors report results of a magneto-thermoelectric investigation of single crystal Bi{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} nanowires in a glass cover with diameters ranging from 90 nm to 5 {mu}m. The wide-ranging antimony concentration enabled us to study the effect of nanowire dimensionality in the semimetal, semi-conductor and gapless regimes. Quantum size effects in Bi-2 at%Sb nanowires, which are shown in temperature dependences of resistance R(T) and thermopower {alpha}(T) for the diameters significantly higher than the critical diameter for pure Bi-wires, are observed. Themore »« less
DOI: 10.1016/J.JSSC.2012.03.063
New materials and devices for thermoelectric applications

Conference Fleurial, J P ; Borshchevsky, A ; Caillat, T ; ...

The development of new, more efficient materials and devices is the key to expanding the range of application of thermoelectric generators and coolers. In the last couple of years, efforts to discover breakthrough thermoelectric materials have intensified, in particular in the US. Recent results on novel materials have already demonstrated that dimensionless figure of merit ZT values 40 to 50% larger than 1.0, the current limit, could be obtained in the 475 to 950 K temperature range. New terrestrial power generation applications have been recently described in the literature. There exists a wide range of heat source temperatures for thesemore »« less
Crystallization and Thermoelectric Transport in Semiconductor Micro- and Nanostructures Under Extreme Conditions

Technical Report Gokirmak, Ali ; Silva, Helena

This project focused on thermoelectric transport in semiconductor micro and nanostructures where moderate and typical operating voltages and currents lead to extreme thermal gradients and current densities. Models that describe behavior of semiconducting materials typically assume an equilibrium condition or slight deviations from it. In these cases the generation-recombination processes are assumed to have reached a local equilibrium for a given temperature. Hence, free carrier concentrations and their mobilities, band-gap, thermal conductivity, thermoelectric properties, mobility of atoms and mechanical properties of the material, can be described as a function of temperature. In the case of PN junctions under electrical bias,more »« less
DOI: 10.2172/1377763

Full Text Available
Modular Isotopic Thermoelectric Generator

Technical Report Schock, Alfred

Advanced RTG concepts utilizing improved thermoelectric materials and converter concepts are under study at Fairchild for DOE. The design described here is based on DOE's newly developed radioisotope heat source, and on an improved silicon-germanium material and a multicouple converter module under development at Syncal. Fairchild's assignment was to combine the above into an attractive power system for use in space, and to assess the specific power and other attributes of that design. The resultant design is highly modular, consisting of standard RTG slices, each producing ~24 watts at the desired output voltage of 28 volt. Thus, the design couldmore »« less
DOI: 10.2172/1034426

Full Text Available
Modular Isotopic Thermoelectric Generator (MITG) Design and Development, Part A-E. Original was presented at 1983 Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC)

Technical Report Schock, A

Advanced RTG concepts utilizing improved thermoelectric materials and converter concepts are under study at Fairchild for DOE. The design described here is based on DOE's newly developed radioisotope heat source, and on an improved silicon-germanium material and a multicouple converter module under development at Syncal. Fairchild's assignment was to combine the above into an attractive power system for use in space, and to assess the specific power and other attributes of that design. The resultant design is highly modular, consisting of standard RTG slices, each producing 24 watts at the desired output voltage of 28 volt. Thus, the design couldmore »« less
DOI: 10.2172/1033369

Full Text Available

Similar Records

Title: Thermoelectrics with a twist

Abstract

Citation Formats

Figures / Tables:

The strange topology that is reshaping physics journal, July 2017

Enhancement of thermoelectric performance across the topological phase transition in dense lead selenide journal, October 2019

Band Structure and Laser Action in Pb x Sn 1 − x Te journal, June 1966

Introduction to Thermoelectricity book, January 2010

Large, nonsaturating thermopower in a quantizing magnetic field journal, May 2018

Chiral topological semimetal with multifold band crossings and long Fermi arcs journal, May 2019

The strange topology that is reshaping physics
journal, July 2017

Enhancement of thermoelectric performance across the topological phase transition in dense lead selenide
journal, October 2019

Band Structure and Laser Action in ${Pb}_{x} {Sn}_{1 - x} Te$
journal, June 1966

Introduction to Thermoelectricity
book, January 2010

Large, nonsaturating thermopower in a quantizing magnetic field
journal, May 2018

Chiral topological semimetal with multifold band crossings and long Fermi arcs
journal, May 2019