Abstract
Mid-temperature thermoelectric conversion efficiencies of the IV-VI materials were calculated under the Boltzmann transport theory of carriers, taking the Seebeck, Peltier, and Thomson effects into account. The conversion efficiency was discussed with respect to the lattice thermal conductivity, keeping other parameters such as Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity to the same values. If room temperature lattice thermal conductivity is decreased up to 0.5W/mK, the conversion efficiency of a PbS based material becomes as high as 15% with the temperature difference of 500K between 800K and 300K.
Highlights
Development of materials with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency is important for energy and environmental issues
Narrow gap IV-VI semiconductors such as PbTe, PbS, and GeTe-based materials have been studied as high efficiency thermoelectric materials, because they have small lattice thermal conductivity, and relatively high Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity.[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
In this paper we describe the calculation of thermoelectric conversion efficiency, and discuss how high conversion efficiency is possible by decreasing the lattice thermal conductivity
Summary
Development of materials with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency is important for energy and environmental issues. Thermal conductivity is an important parameter because the reduction of thermal conductivity increases the ZT and reduces the necessary amount of the material for device fabrication. Seebeck coefficient is another important factor because it has the effect of second power on the figure of merit. In this paper we describe the calculation of thermoelectric conversion efficiency, and discuss how high conversion efficiency is possible by decreasing the lattice thermal conductivity. Relations among these effects will be clearly described, and thermoelectric-conversion efficiencies of IV-VI materials are discussed with the temperature dependent Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and lattice thermal conductivity
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