A record thermoelectric efficiency in tellurium-free modules for low-grade waste heat recovery.

ABSTRACT: Low-grade heat accounts for >50% of the total dissipated heat sources in industries. An efficient recovery of low-grade heat into useful electricity not only reduces the consumption of fossil-fuels but also releases the subsequential environmental-crisis. Thermoelectricity offers an ideal solution, yet low-temperature efficient materials have continuously been limited to Bi₂Te₃-alloys since the discovery in 1950s. Scarcity of tellurium and the strong property anisotropy cause high-cost in both raw-materials and synthesis/processing. Here we demonstrate cheap polycrystalline antimonides for even more efficient thermoelectric waste-heat recovery within 600 K than conventional tellurides. This is enabled by a design of Ni/Fe/Mg₃SbBi and Ni/Sb/CdSb contacts for

SUBMITTER: Bu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8752736 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature