Nanostructure-Enhanced Bulk Thermoelectric Materials

Significant improvement in the ZT (figure of merit) has been recently been reported in thin film thermoelectric materials. These improvements were achieved by taking the advantage of low dimensionality in PbTe-based quantum well and quantum dot systems prepared by MBE and in BiTe-SbTe quantum well systems prepared by MOCVD. This Phase II program will build on progress made during Phase I to make a bulk thermoelectric materials with a high Seebeck coefficient (550 µV/K) from PbTe/PbSe engineered nanoparticles that retain nanoscale elements after being densified to 95% of theoretical using a commercially viable low-cost processing approach. In Phase II specific attention will be given to maximizing electrical conductivity through a more complete understanding grain boundary interactions, demonstrating a continuous process for preparing the semiconductor nanoparticles and improvement of consolidation techniques used to prepare a bulk shape with nanoscale elements that can be evaluated in a prototype thermoelectric device.