Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Thermoelectric Oxides For Waste Heat Recovery, Jayakanth Ravichandran

Link Foundation Energy Fellowship Reports

Among various solid-state energy conversion methods, thermoelectricity deals with direct inter-conversion of thermal and electrical energy. The efficiency of a thermoelectric heat engine is related to a material dependent figure of merit, Z, given by S2σ/κ, where S is the thermopower or Seebeck coefficient, σ and κ are the electrical and thermal conductivities (lattice and electronic), respectively. In conventional thermoelectric materials such as semiconductors, the density of states, chemical potential and the scattering mechanism governs electrical conductivity and thermopower. Due to this coupling between thermopower, electrical conductivity and electronic component of thermal conductivity, achieving high Z has been a challenging …