Oxide based thermoelectric materials for large scale power generation

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.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Song, Yang, M. Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Harry L. Tuller.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45358

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45358