Advanced Thermoelectrics Materials, Contacts, Devices, and Systems

This book provides an overview on nanostructured thermoelectric materials and devices, covering fundamental concepts, synthesis techniques, device contacts and stability, and potential applications, especially in waste heat recovery and solar energy conversion. The contents focus on thermoelectric devices made from nanomaterials with high thermoelectric efficiency for use in large scale to generate megawatts electricity.Covers the latest discoveries, methods, technologies in materials, contacts, modules, and systems for thermoelectricity.Addresses practical details of how to improve the efficiency and power output of a generator by optimizing contacts and electrical conductivity.Gives tips on how to realize a realistic and usable device or module with attention to large scale industry synthesis and product development.Prof. Zhifeng Ren is M. D. Anderson Professor in the Department of Physics and the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston.Prof. Yucheng Lan is an associate professor in Morgan State University.Prof. Qinyong Zhang is a professor in the Center for Advanced Materials and Energy at Xihua University of China.

Part I Thermoelectric Materials 1. Introduction to Thermoelectric Materials, Contacts, Devices, and Systems 2. Low-Temperature Thermoelectric Materials 3. Materials for Near-Room Temperatures 4. IV–VI Compounds for Medium Temperatures 5. Thermoelectric Sb-Based Skutterudites for Medium Temperatures 6. Mg2BIV for Medium Temperatures 7. Ca1-xYbxMg2Bi2 and Ca1-xYbxZn2Sb2-Related 1–2–2 Zintl Phases 8. Half-Heuslers for High Temperatures 9. Silicon–Germanium Alloys 10. Other Thermoelectric Materials 11. Engineering of Materials 12. Simulation of Phonons 13. Reliable Prediction of Efficiency and Output Power and Balance between Materials and Devices in Thermoelectric Power Generators 14. Mechanical Properties of Thermoelectric Materials Part II Thermoelectric Contacts 15. Contact for Bi2Te3-Based Thermoelectric Leg 16. Contacts for Skutterudites 17. Contacts for PbTe 18. Bismuth Telluride Modules 19. Half-Heusler Modules 20. Silicide Modules: Practical Issues in Developing Mg2Si with Good Stability for Generating Power from Waste Heat Sources 21. Oxide Modules 22. Solar Thermoelectric Power Generators

Prof. Zhifeng Ren, an M. D. Anderson Professor in the Department of Physics and the Texas Center for superconductivity at the University of Houston, has been leading the field of nanostructured thermoelectric materials and devices and other scientific fields. His group published an article in Science in 2008 to establish that ball-milling/hot-pressing method is the way to produce thermoelectric nanocomposites significantly enhanced thermoelectric properties in bismuth-telluride system. The work has pioneered the field of nanostructured thermoelectric materials and has been cited over 1000 times. Following the pioneer work, his lab has successfully enhanced thermoelectric properties in various thermoelectric nanomaterials such as YbAgCu4, PbTe/PbSe, skutterudites, half- Heuslers, SiGe alloys, etc, covering 20 K to 1300 K. These thermoelectric nanomaterials were fabricated into thermoelectric devices to harvest waste heat and convert solar energy (published in the journal Nature Materials in 2011). His group has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Physical Review Letters, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Nano Letters, Advanced Materials, Small, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Energy & Environmental Science, ACS Nano, Advances in Physics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and so on, and these papers have been cited for over 20,000 times. Various new thermoelectric materials with good thermoelectric properties have been discovered and fabricated in the past a few years, including the most recently discovered MgAgSb-based materials.Prof. Yucheng Lan, an associate professor in Morgan State University and was a research assistant professor in the Department of Physics and the Texas Center for superconductivity at the University of Houston, has worked on microstructures of thermoelectric nanomaterials and devices. He is an author of 90 peer-reviewed papers publ