Understanding the asymmetrical thermoelectric performance for discovering promising thermoelectric materials
Abstract
Thermoelectric modules, consisting of multiple pairs of n- and p-type legs, enable converting heat into electricity and vice versa. However, the thermoelectric performance is often asymmetrical, in that one type outperforms the other. In this paper, we identified the relationship between the asymmetrical thermoelectric performance and the weighted mobility ratio, a correlation that can help predict the thermoelectric performance of unreported materials. Here, a reasonably high ZT for the n-type ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers is first predicted and then experimentally verified. A high peak ZT of ~1 at 973 K can be realized by ZrCo0.9Ni0.1Bi0.85Sb0.15. The measured heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency for the unicouple of ZrCoBi-based materials can be as high as ~10% at the cold-side temperature of ~303 K and at the hot-side temperature of ~983 K. Our work demonstrates that the ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers are highly promising for the application of mid- and high-temperature thermoelectric power generation.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
[3];
[1]
- Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
- Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei (China); Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
- Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1613120
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0019114; 11474329
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Citation Formats
Zhu, Hangtian, Mao, Jun, Feng, Zhenzhen, Sun, Jifeng, Zhu, Qing, Liu, Zihang, Singh, David J., Wang, Yumei, and Ren, Zhifeng. Understanding the asymmetrical thermoelectric performance for discovering promising thermoelectric materials. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aav5813.
Zhu, Hangtian, Mao, Jun, Feng, Zhenzhen, Sun, Jifeng, Zhu, Qing, Liu, Zihang, Singh, David J., Wang, Yumei, & Ren, Zhifeng. Understanding the asymmetrical thermoelectric performance for discovering promising thermoelectric materials. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav5813
Zhu, Hangtian, Mao, Jun, Feng, Zhenzhen, Sun, Jifeng, Zhu, Qing, Liu, Zihang, Singh, David J., Wang, Yumei, and Ren, Zhifeng. Fri .
"Understanding the asymmetrical thermoelectric performance for discovering promising thermoelectric materials". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav5813. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1613120.
@article{osti_1613120,
title = {Understanding the asymmetrical thermoelectric performance for discovering promising thermoelectric materials},
author = {Zhu, Hangtian and Mao, Jun and Feng, Zhenzhen and Sun, Jifeng and Zhu, Qing and Liu, Zihang and Singh, David J. and Wang, Yumei and Ren, Zhifeng},
abstractNote = {Thermoelectric modules, consisting of multiple pairs of n- and p-type legs, enable converting heat into electricity and vice versa. However, the thermoelectric performance is often asymmetrical, in that one type outperforms the other. In this paper, we identified the relationship between the asymmetrical thermoelectric performance and the weighted mobility ratio, a correlation that can help predict the thermoelectric performance of unreported materials. Here, a reasonably high ZT for the n-type ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers is first predicted and then experimentally verified. A high peak ZT of ~1 at 973 K can be realized by ZrCo0.9Ni0.1Bi0.85Sb0.15. The measured heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency for the unicouple of ZrCoBi-based materials can be as high as ~10% at the cold-side temperature of ~303 K and at the hot-side temperature of ~983 K. Our work demonstrates that the ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers are highly promising for the application of mid- and high-temperature thermoelectric power generation.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aav5813},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 6,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Fri Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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