Oxide based thermoelectric materials for large scale power generation

Abstract

The thermoelectric (TE) devices are based on the Seebeck and Peltier effects, which describe the conversion between temperature gradient and electricity. The effectiveness of the material performance can be described by its figure of merit, ZT, which is defined as ZT = [alpha]²[sigma]T / [kappa] , where a is the Seebeck coefficient of the material, a is the electrical conductivity and [kappa] is the total thermal conductivity, and T is the temperature. In the past, TE power generation has been confined to niche applications. It has been technically and economically more efficient to produce electricity using traditional generators rather than a thermoelectric generator. However, recent significant advances in the scientific understanding of quantum well and nanostructure effects on TE materials properties and modem thin layer and nanoscale manufacturing technologies have combined to create advanced TE materials with high figure of merit (>3). An engineering analysis performed in this study identified large scale waste heat recovery opportunities that are suitable for advanced TE power generation systems.