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A Fundamental Investigation Into Low Thermal Conductivity P-Type Chalcogenides And Skutterudites With Potential Thermoelectric Applications, Dean Hobbis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sustainable and renewable energy is an incredibly important area in today’s society and investigation into avenues to improve this wide ranging technology are underway in many different fields. Thermoelectric devices possess the ability for the direct solid-state interconversion of heat and electrical power, which not only allows for sustainable refrigeration but also waste heat recovery. One current restriction on the efficiency of thermoelectric devices is the disparity in thermoelectric performance of p-type and n-type materials. Furthermore, a key physical attribute shared by the majority of high performing thermoelectric materials is low thermal conductivity. Thus in this thesis three separate p-type …