Innovative design and optimized performance of thermoelectric transistor driven by the Seebeck effect

Abstract

The combination of thermoelectricity and the transistor technology is a promising choice to obtain the high performance of thermoelectric (TE) materials and devices. In this context, the performance optimization always depends on the modulation of the external voltage. TE materials can produce their own voltages by the Seebeck effect, making them possible to form the transistor circuit without additional power sources. Here, the generic operation condition of TE transistor is demonstrated theoretically, considering temperature dependence in Bi2Te3-based materials. Further, the transistor is constructed as a TE generator. And a Direct-Current (DC) equivalent circuit method is introduced to analyze the performance of TE transistor. The method produces an optimized design to attain maximum output power and conversion efficiency. Calculation results show that the maximum output power is 17.8mW and the conversion efficiency is 8.69% at room temperature when the temperature difference is 50 K.