Thermoelectric Materials Research and Device Development for Power Conversion and Refrigeration: Volume 1490

Symposium B, 'Thermoelectric Materials Research and Device Development for Power Conversion and Refrigeration', held from November 26-30 at the 2012 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, was the tenth in a series of symposia on state-of-the-art materials and technologies for direct thermal-to-electric energy conversion that produced proceedings with primary focus on material and technological advances of thermoelectrics and thermionics (see MRS Proceedings volumes 234, 478, 545, 626, 691, 793, 886, 1044 and 1166). In this symposium there were 263 contributed presentations, the largest by far at the MRS, including 10 invited talks and 168 poster presentations. These presentations were given from researchers from academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States, Asia and Europe. The symposia covered a broad range of topics in the areas of materials, measurement techniques, and device development. This volume provides an overview of the exciting recent developments in the field.

Part I. Bulk Thermoelectrics: 1. High-temperature thermoelectric properties of W-substituted CaMnO3; 2. Electron and phonon transport in n- and p-type skutterudites; 3. Influence of Sn on the structural and thermoelectric properties of the type-I clathrates Ba8Cu5Si6Ge35-xSnx (0 £ x £ 0.6); 4. Attrition-enhanced nanocomposite synthesis of indium-filled, iron-substituted skutterudite antimonides for improved performance thermoelectrics; 5. Thermoelectric behaviour of p- and n-type Ti-Ni-Sn half Heusler alloy variants and their amorphous equivalents; 6. Erbium boride composites with high ZT values at 800 K; 7. Laser flash analysis determination of the thermal diffusivity of Si/SiGe superlattices; 8. Enhancement in thermoelectric figure-of-merit of n-type Si-Ge alloy synthesized employing high energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering; 9. Thermoelectrical properties of a phase and g phase NaxCo2O4 ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering method; 10. Fabrication of Mg2Si bulk by spark plasma sintering method with Mg2Si nano-powder; 11. Thermoelectric properties of Li-doped Cu0.95-xM0.05LixO (M=Mn, Ni, Zn); 12. Investigation of the valence band structure of PbSe by optical and transport measurement; 13. Optimizing thermoelectric efficiency of La3-xTe4 with calcium metal substitution; 14. Anisotropy and inhomogeneity measurement of the transport properties of spark plasma sintered thermoelectric materials; 15. Formation and properties of TiSi2 as contact material for high-temperature thermoelectric generators; 16. New n-type silicide thermoelectric material with high oxidation resistance; Part II. Nanocomposites and Nanostructured Materials: 17. Thermoelectric properties of Bi-FeSb2 nanocomposites: evidence for phonon-drag effect; 18. Fabrication of nanostructured bulk cobalt antimonide (CoSb3) based skutterudites via bottom-up synthesis; 19. Influence of addition of alumina nanoparticles on thermoelectric properties of higher manganese silicide; 20. Diameter and temperature dependences of phonon-drag magnetothermopower in bismuth nanowires; 21. Thermoelectric measurements of Ni nanojunctions; 22. Tantalum nitride for copper diffusion blocking on thin film (BiSb)2Te3; Part III. Thermoelectric Properties and Applications: 23. Practical electrical contact resistance measurement method for bulk thermoelectric devices; 24. Investigation of wide bandgap semiconductors for thermoelectric applications; 25. Nano-scale vacuum spaced thermo-tunnel devices for energy harvesting applications; 26. Progress on searching optimal thermal spray parameters for magnesium silicide; 27. Preparation and evaluation of the n-type PbTe based material properties for thermoelectric generators; 28. Power generation performance of p-structure thermoelectric device using NaCo2O4 and Mg2Si elements; 29. Design and implementation of a measurement system for automatic measurement of electrical parameters of thermoelectric generators; 30. Diffusion barriers for CeFe4Sb12/Cu thermoelectric devices; Part IV. Thin-Films: 31. Theoretical and experimental advances in Bi2Te3 / Sb2Te3-based and related superlattice systems; 32. Impact of annealing on the thermoelectric properties of Ge2Sb2Te5 films; 33. Structural and electrical properties of Mg-Si thin films fabricated by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering deposition; 34. Enhanced electrocaloric effect in poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene)-based composites.