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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Clemson University

2009

Thermoelectrics

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Improved Thermoelectric Performance Of P-Type Polycrystalline Bi2te3 Via Hydrothermal Treatment With Alkali Metal Salts, Zhe Su Aug 2009

Improved Thermoelectric Performance Of P-Type Polycrystalline Bi2te3 Via Hydrothermal Treatment With Alkali Metal Salts, Zhe Su

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The field of thermoelectric research has attracted a lot of interest in hope of helping address the energy crisis. In recent years, low-dimensional thermoelectric materials have been found promising and thus become a popular school of thought. However, the high complexity and cost for fabricating low-dimensional materials give rise to the attempt to further improve conventional bulk polycrystalline materials. Polycrystals are featured by numerous grain boundaries that can scatter heat-carrying phonons to significantly reduce the thermal conductivity κ whereas at the same time can unfortunately deteriorate the electrical resistivity ρ. Aiming at the dualism of the grain boundaries in determining …


Effect Of Cosb3 Nanoparticles On The Thermoelectric Properties Of Filled And Unfilled Cosb3 Skutterudites, Paola Alboni Aug 2009

Effect Of Cosb3 Nanoparticles On The Thermoelectric Properties Of Filled And Unfilled Cosb3 Skutterudites, Paola Alboni

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This study explores the possibility of somewhat decoupling the electrical and thermal conduction, thereby being able to limit the thermal conduction while minimizing the effect on the electrical conduction. The approach is using a nanoparticle layer with a slight compositional mismatch as compared to the bulk skutterudite. A hydrothermal nanoparticle-plating technique has been employed to grow a layer of CoSb3 nanoparticles on the surface of skutterudite bulk matrix grains. Skutterudites of various forms were fabricated and studied in order to assess the effect of this nano-plated layer as a viable method in the improvement of thermoelectric properties of CoSb …