Nanostructural thermoelectric materials and their performance

doi:10.1007/s11708-018-0543-5

Front. Energy

2018, Vol. 12

Issue (1) : 97-108 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-018-0543-5

REVIEW ARTICLE

Nanostructural thermoelectric materials and their performance

Kai-Xuan CHEN, Min-Shan LI, Dong-Chuan MO(

), Shu-Shen LYU(

)

School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Centre for Advanced Thermal Control Material and System Integration (ATCMSI), Guangzhou 510275, China

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Abstract

In this review, an attempt was made to introduce the traditional concepts and materials in thermoelectric application and the recent development in searching high-performance thermoelectric materials. Due to the use of nanostructural engineering, thermoelectric materials with a high figure of merit are designed, leading to their blooming application in the energy field. One dimensional nanotubes and nanoribbons, two-dimensional planner structures, nanocomposites, and heterostructures were summarized. In addition, the state-of-the-art theoretical calculation in the prediction of thermoelectric materials was also reviewed, including the molecular dynamics (MD), Boltzmann transport equation, and non-equilibrium Green’s function. The combination of experimental fabrication and first-principles prediction significantly promotes the discovery of new promising candidates in the thermoelectric field.

Keywords nanostructural low-dimensional thermoelectric material figure of merit first-principles

Corresponding Author(s): Dong-Chuan MO,Shu-Shen LYU

Just Accepted Date: 19 January 2018 Online First Date: 07 February 2018 Issue Date: 08 March 2018

Cite this article:

Kai-Xuan CHEN,Min-Shan LI,Dong-Chuan MO, et al. Nanostructural thermoelectric materials and their performance[J]. Front. Energy, 2018, 12(1): 97-108.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-018-0543-5
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2018/V12/I1/97

Fig.1 Thermoelectric efficiency (h_TE) plotted for different temperature gradient between the hot side and the cold side where the cold side is assumed to be at room temperature (300 K)

Fig.2 Variation of thermoelectric factors against carrier concentration

Fig.3 Development of ZT in the past several decades (The reference number of the original data are denoted in the center of the symbol. For Bi₂Te₃ series, the references sorted by years are Refs. [16–27]. The references for Zn₄Sb₃, PbTe and SiGe series are Refs. [28–31], [32–39], and [34,40–44], respectively.)

Tab.1 Thermoelectric materials based on Bi₂Te₃

Tab.2 Thermoelectric materials based on IV–VI family

Fig.4 A typical model of non-equilibrium Green’s function

Fig.5 Previous study on the thermoelectric properties of two-dimensional materials

Tab.3 Theoretical prediction of maximum room-temperature ZT for typical two-dimensional materials

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