Optimization Design and Performance Study of Wearable Thermoelectric Device Using Phase Change Material as Heat Sink.

Wearable thermoelectric generators have great potential to provide power for smart electronic wearable devices and miniature sensors by harnessing the temperature difference between the human body and the environment. However, the Thomson effect, the Joule effect, and heat conduction can cause a decrease in the temperature difference across the thermoelectric generator during operation. In this paper, phase change materials (PCMs) were employed as the heat sink for the thermoelectric generator, and the COMSOL software 6.1 was utilized to simulate and optimize the power generation processes within the heat sink. The results indicated that with a PCM height of 40 mm, phase transition temperature of 293 K, latent heat of 200 kJ/kg, phase transition temperature interval of 5 K, thermal conductivity of 50 W/(m·K), isobaric heat capacity of 2000 J/(Kg·K), density of 1000 kg/m3, and convective heat transfer coefficient of 10 W/(m·K), the device can maintain a temperature difference of 18-10 K for 1930 s when the thermoelectric leg height is 1.6 mm, and 3760 s when the thermoelectric leg height is 2.7 mm. These results demonstrate the correlation between the device's output performance and the dimensions and performance parameters of the PCM heat sink, thereby validating the feasibility of employing the PCM heat sink and the necessity for systematic investigations.

Study on the Effect of Sn, In, and Se Co-Doping on the Thermoelectric Properties of GeTe.

GeTe and Ge0.99-xIn0.01SnxTe0.94Se0.06 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.06) samples were prepared by vacuum synthesis combined with spark plasma sintering (SPS). The thermoelectric properties of GeTe were coordinated by multiple doping of Sn, In, and Se. In this work, a maximum zT(zT = S2σT/κ) of 0.9 and a power factor (PF = S2σ) of 3.87 µWmm-1 K-2 were obtained in a sample of Ge0.99In0.01Te0.94Se0.06 at 723K. The XRD results at room temperature show that all samples are rhombohedral phase structures. There is a peak (~27°) of the Ge element in GeTe and the sample (x = 0), but it disappears after Sn doping, indicating that Sn doping can promote the dissolution of Ge. The scattering mechanism of the doped samples was calculated by the conductivity ratio method. The results show that phonon scattering Is dominant in all samples, and alloy scattering is enhanced with the increase in the Sn doping amount. In doping can introduce resonance energy levels and increase the Seebeck coefficient, and Se doping can introduce point defects to suppress phonon transmission and reduce lattice thermal conductivity. Therefore, the thermoelectric properties of samples with x = 0 improved. Although Sn doping will promote the dissolution of Ge precipitation, the phase transition of the samples near 580 K deteriorates the thermoelectric properties. The thermoelectric properties of Sn-doped samples improved only at room temperature to ~580 K compared with pure GeTe. The synergistic effect of multi-element doping is a comprehensive reflection of the interaction between elements rather than the sum of all the effects of single-element doping.

Innovative Design of Bismuth-Telluride-Based Thermoelectric Transistors.

Conventional thermoelectric generators, predominantly based on the π-type structure, are severely limited in their applications due to the relatively low conversion efficiency. In response to the challenge, in this work, a Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric transistor driven by laser illumination is demonstrated. Under laser illumination, a temperature difference of 46.7 °C is produced between the two ends of the transistor structure. Further, the hole concentrations in each region redistribute and the built-in voltages decrease due to the temperature difference, leading to the formation of the transistor circuit. Additionally, the operation condition of the thermoelectric transistor is presented. The calculation results demonstrate that the maximum output power of such a designed thermoelectric transistor is 0.7093 µW.

Study on Enhancing the Thermoelectric Stability of the ß-Cu2Se Phase by Mn Doping.

Cu2Se is a promising thermoelectric (TE) material due to its low cost, Earth abundance, and high thermoelectric properties. However, the biggest problem of Cu2Se is its unstable chemical properties. In particular, under the action of an electric field or gradient temperature field, the chemical potential of copper ions inside the material increases. When the external field is strong enough, the chemical potential of copper ions at the negative end of the material reaches the chemical potential of elemental copper. Under these conditions, copper ions must precipitate out, causing Cu2Se to be unstable, and making it unsuitable for use in applications. In this study, we prepared Cu2-xMnxSe (x = 0, 0.02, 0.04 and 0.06) series bulk materials by vacuum melting-annealing and sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS). We investigated the effects of Mn doping on the composition, microstructure, band structure, scattering mechanism, thermoelectric properties, and stability of Cu2Se. The results show that Mn doping can adjust the carrier concentration, promote the stabilization of the ß-phase structure and improve the electrical properties of Cu2Se. When x = 0.06, the highest power factor (PF) value of Cu1.94Mn0.06Se at 873 K was 1.62 mW m-1 K-2. The results of carrier scattering mechanism analysis based on the conductivity ratio method show that the sample doped with Mn and pure Cu2Se had the characteristics of ionization impurity scattering, and the scattering factor was 3/2. However, the deterioration in thermal conductivity was large, and a superior zT value needs to be obtained. The cyclic test results of high-temperature thermoelectric properties show that Mn doping can hinder Cu+ migration and improve its thermoelectric stability, which preliminarily verifies the feasibility of using the stable zirconia mechanism to improve the thermoelectric stability of Cu2Se.

Enabling High Quality Factor and Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance in BiBr3-Doped Sn0.93Mn0.1Te via Band Convergence and Band Sharpening.

Lead-free SnTe-based materials are expected to replace PbTe and have gained much attention from the thermoelectric community. In this work, a maximum ZT of ∼1.31 at 873 K is attained in SnTe via promoting a high quality factor resulting from Mn alloying and BiBr3 doping. The results show that Mn alloying in SnTe converges the L band and the ∑ band in valence bands to supply enhanced valley degeneracy and the density of states effective mass, giving rise to a high power factor of ∼21.67 µW cm-1 K-2 at 723 K in Sn0.93Mn0.1Te. In addition, the subsequent BiBr3 doping can sharpen the top of the valence band to coordinate the contradiction between the band effective mass and the carrier mobility, thus enhancing the carrier mobility while maintaining a relatively large density of states effective mass. Consequently, a maximum power factor of 23.85 µW cm-1 K-2 at 873 K is achieved in Sn0.93Mn0.1Te-0.8 atom % BiBr3. In addition to band sharpening, BiBr3 doping can also effectively suppress the bipolar effect at elevated temperatures and reduce the lattice thermal conductivity by strengthening the point defect phonon scattering. Benefitting from doping BiBr3 in Sn0.93Mn0.1Te optimizes the carrier mobility and suppresses the lattice thermal conductivity, resulting in a dramatically enhanced quality factor. Accordingly, an average ZT of ∼0.62 in the temperature range of 300-873 K is obtained in Sn0.93Mn0.1Te-0.8 atom % BiBr3, ∼250% increase compared with that in Sn1.03Te.