High-temperature and high-pressure post-processing applied to sintered thermoelectric materials can create nanoscale defects, thereby enhancing their thermoelectric performance. Here, we investigate the effect of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) as a post-processing treatment on the thermoelectric properties of p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3.0 compounds sintered via spark plasma sintering. The sample post-processed via HIP maintains its electronic transport properties despite the reduced microstructural texturing. Moreover, lattice thermal conductivity is significantly reduced owing to activated phonon scattering, which can be attributed to the nanoscale defects created during HIP, resulting in an ~18% increase in peak zT value, which reaches ~1.43 at 100oC. This study validates that HIP enhances the thermoelectric performance by controlling the thermal transport without having any detrimental effects on the electronic transport properties of thermoelectric materials.

Thermoelectric materials can reversely convert heat and electricity into each other; therefore, they can be very useful for energy harvesting from heat waste. Among many thermoelectrical materials, SnSe exhibits outstanding thermoelectric performance along the particular direction of a single crystal. However, single-crystal SnSe has poor mechanical properties and thus it is difficult to apply for mass production. Therefore, polycrystalline SnSe materials may be used to replace single-crystal SnSe by overcoming its inferior thermoelectric performance owing to surface oxidation. Considerable efforts are currently focused on enhancing the thermoelectric performance of polycrystalline SnSe. In this study, we briefly review various enhancement methods for SnSe thermoelectric materials, including doping, texturing, and nano-structuring. Finally, we discuss the future prospects of SnSe thermoelectric powder materials.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a promising technology for the uniform deposition of thin films. ALD is based on a self-limiting mechanism, which can effectively deposit thin films on the surfaces of powders of various sizes. Numerous studies are underway to improve the performance of thermoelectric materials by forming core-shell structures in which various materials are deposited on the powder surface using ALD. Thermoelectric materials are especially relevant as clean energy storage materials due to their ability to interconvert between thermal and electrical energy by the Seebeck and Peltier effects. Herein, we introduce a surface and interface modification strategy based on ALD to control the performance of thermoelectric materials. We also discuss the properties of the interface between various deposition materials and thermoelectric materials.

The SnSe single crystal shows an outstanding figure of merit (ZT) of 2.6 at 973 K; thus, it is considered to be a promising thermoelectric material. However, the mass production of SnSe single crystals is difficult, and their mechanical properties are poor. Alternatively, we can use polycrystalline SnSe powder, which has better mechanical properties. In this study, surface modification by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is chosen to increase the ZT value of SnSe polycrystalline powder. SnSe powder is ground by a ball mill. An ALD coating process using a rotary-type reactor is adopted. ZnO thin films are grown by 100 ALD cycles using diethylzinc and H2O as precursors at 100oC. ALD is performed at rotation speeds of 30, 40, 50, and 60 rpm to examine the effects of rotation speed on the thin film characteristics. The physical and chemical properties of ALD-coated SnSe powders are characterized by scanning and tunneling electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The results reveal that a smooth oxygenrich ZnO layer is grown on SnSe at a rotation speed of 30 rpm. This result can be applied for the uniform coating of a ZnO layer on various powder materials.

The p-type Te functional gradient material (FGM) was fabricated by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed and the 0.5 at% powders. Also, the n-type FGM was processed by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe powders. With larger than , the p-type FGM exhibited larger thermoelectric output power than those of the and the 0.5 at% alloys. For the n-type FGM, the thermoelectric output power superior to those of the and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe was predicted at larger than .

Thermoelectric conversion efficiency of thermoelectric elements can be increased by using a structure combining n-type and p-type semiconductors. From the above point of view, attention was directed at ZnO as a candidate n-type semiconductor material and investigations were made. As the result, a dimensionless figure of merit ZT close to 0.28 (1073K) was obtained for specimens produced by the PCS (Pulse Current Sintering) method with addition of specified quantities of , CoO, and to ZnO. It was found that the interstitial in the ZnO restrains the grain growth and CoO acts onto the bond between grains. The influence of the inclusion of and CoO onto the sintering behavior also was investigated.

The n-type compound was newly fabricated by gas atomization and hot extrusion, which is considered to be a mass production technique of this alloy. The effect of powder size on thermoelectric properties of 0.04% doped alloy were investigated. Seebeck coefficient and Electrical resistivity increased with increasing powder size due to the decrease in carrier concentration by oxygen content. With increasing powder size, the compressive strength of alloy was increased due to the relative high density. The compound with size shows the highest power factor among the four different powder sizes. The rapidly solidified and hot extruded compound using powder size shows the highest compressive strength.

N-type solid solutions doped with 1 was prepared by melt spinning, crushing and vacuum sintering processes. Microstructure, bending strength and thermoelectric property were investigated as a function of the doping quantity from 0.03wt.% to 0.10wt.% and sintering temperature from to , and finally compared with those of conventionally fabricated alloys. The alloy showed a good structural homogeneity as well as bending strength of . The highest thermoelectric figure of merit was obtained by doping 0.03wt.% and sintering at .

A new process using rapid solidification (melt spinning method) followed by pressing and sintering was investigated to produce the n-type thermoelectric ribbons of 90% +10% doped with . Quenched ribbons are very brittle and consisted of homogeneous pseudo-binary solid solutions. Property variations of the materials was investigated as a function of variables, such as dopant quantity and sintering temperature. When the process parameters were optimized, the maximum figure of merit was .

금속분말 Fe와 Si에 KNO3(Fe+Si)무게비=0.2로 점화촉매 KNO3를 혼합하고 50MPa로 성형한 후 점화시키는 비기체연소합성(SHS; Self propagating High temperature Synthesis)법으로 출발 분말을 얻었다. 점화분위기를 공기 및 Ar으로 한 경우 XRD결과에서 특별한 차이가 없었고 두 경우 모두 SiO2피크가 검출되었다. 합성된 분말을 성형한 후 1190˚C환원분위기에서 소결하고 포석온도이하에서 열처리하여 반도성 FeSi2가 주상인 Fe-Si계 열전재료를 제조하였다. Fe/Si무게비=46/54,44/56 및 42/58시편의 제벡계수는 Si함량이 증가할수록 증가하였다. 점화후의 세척처리를 2단계로 하는 경우 제벡계수의 부호가 변화하여 p-type에서 n-type으로 변화하며 소결밀도가 크게 상승하였다. 조성에 관계없이 공통적으로 발견되는 SiO2는 점화시의 분위기보다는 점화촉매에 포함된 K성분이 소결 및 열처리시 산화제로 작용하여 형성되는 것이 확인되었다.

The efficiency of thermoelectric devices for different applications is known to depend on the thermoelectric effectiveness of the material which tends to grow with the increase of its chemical homogeneity. Thus an important goal for thermal devices is to obtain chemically homogeneous solid solutions. In this work, the new process with rapid solidification (melt spinning method) followed by hot pressing was investigated to produce homogeneous material. Characteristics of the material were examined with HRD, SEM, EPMA-line scan and bending test. Property variations of the materials were investigated as a function of variables, such as dopant quantity and hot pressing temperature. Quenched ribbons are very brittle and consist of homogeneous , solid solutions. When the process parameters were optimized, the maximum figure of merit was 2.038×10-3K-4. The bending strength of the material hot pressed at 50 was 8.2 kgf/.

solid solutions are of great interest as materials for thermoelectric energy conversion. One of the key technologies to ensure the efficiency of thermoelectric device is to obtain chemically homogeneous solid solutions. In this work, the new process with rapid solidification followed by hot pressing was investigated to produce homogeneous thermoelectric materials. Characteristics of the materials were examined with XRD, SEM, EPMA-line scan and bending test. Property variations of the materials were investigated as a function of variables, such as excess Te quantity and hot pressing temperature. Quenched ribbons are very brittle and consisted of homogeneous , solid solutions. When the process parameters were optimized, the maximum figure of merit was 3.073. The bending strength of the material, hot pressed at 45, was 5.87 kgf/.

열전발전용 재료인 PbTe의 밀링 시간, 볼과 분말의 무게비에 따른 기계적 합금화 거동을 연구하였다. Pb와 Te 분말을 볼과 분말의 무게비 2 : 1에서 2분간 기계적 합금화 함으로써 PbTe 금속간 화합물의 형성이 완료되었다. 밀링 공정중 vial 표면 온도의 in situ 측정에서 기계적 합금화에 의한 PbTe 금속간 화합물의 형성이 분말 계면에서의 확산 공정보다는 합금화 반응이 자발적으로 전파하는 자전 반응에 의하여 이루어지는 것을 알 수 있었다. 기계적 합금화로 제조한 PbTe 합금분말의 격자상수는 0.6462nm로 용해 및 분쇄법으로 제조한 PbTe 분말에서 보고된 값인 0.6459nm와 잘 일치하였으며, 밀링 시간의 증가 및 볼과 분말의 무게비의 변화에 의하여 변하지않았다.