• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.647-651
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• 2006

A new class of compounds in the form of skutterudite structure, Fe doped $CoSb_3$ with a nominal composition of $Fe_xCo_{4-x}Sb_{12}$ ($0{\leq}x{\leq}2.5$), were synthesized by mechanical alloying of elemental powders followed by vacuum hot pressing. Nanostructured, single-phase skutterudites were successfully produced by vacuum hot pressing using as-milled powders without subsequent heat-treatments for the compositions of $x{\leq}1.5$. However, second phase was found to form in case of $x{\geq}2$, suggesting the solubility limit of Fe with Co in this system. Thermoelectric properties including thermal conductivity from 300 to 600 K were measured and discussed. Lattice thermal conductivity was greatly reduced by introducing a dopant up to x=1.5 as well as by increasing phonon scattering in nanostructured skutterudite, leading to enhancement in the thermoelectric figure of merit. The maximum figure of merit was found to be 0.32 at 600 K in the composition of $Fe_xCo_{4-x}Sb_{12}$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2023

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 Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te_3.0 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 100℃. 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.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.7-13
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• 2008

The particulate type silicon carbide (SiC) and fiber type carbon fiber (CF) filler, of similar thermal conductivities, were mixed with polyetheretherketone (PEEK) to investigate the filler effects on the thermal diffusivity. The SiC and CF fillers had a good and uniform dispersion in PEEK matrix. Thermal diffusivities of PEEK composites were measured from ambient temperature up to $200^{\circ}C$ by laser flash method. The diffusivities were decreased as increasing temperature due to the phonon scattering between PEEK-filler and filler-filler interfaces. Thermal diffusivity of PEEK composites was increased with increasing filler content and the thermal conductivities of two-phase system were compared to the experimental results and it gave ideas on the filler dispersion, orientation, aspect ratio, and filler-filler interactions. Nielson equation gave a good prediction to the experimental results of PEEK/SiC. The easy network formation by CF was found to be substantially more effective than SiC and it gave a higher thermal diffusivities of PEEK/CF than PEEK/SiC.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2011

The silicon-germanium (SiGe) alloy, which is compatible with silicon semiconductor technology and has a smaller band gap and a lower thermal conductivity than silicon, has been used to fabricate electronic devices such as transistors, photodetectors, solar cells, and thermoelectric devices. This paper reviews the application of SiGe alloys to electronic devices and related technical issues. Since the SiGe alloy comprises germanium whose band gap is smaller than silicon, its band gap is also smaller than that of silicon irrespective of the ratio of silicon to germanium. This narrow band gap of SiGe enables the base thickness of bipolar transistors to decrease without a loss in current gain so that it is possible to improve the speed of bipolar transistors by adopting the SiGe-base. In addition, the conversion efficiency of solar cells is enhanced by the absorption of long-wavelength light in the SiGe absorption layer. Phonon scattering caused by the irregular distribution of alloying elements induces the lower thermal conductivity of SiGe than those of pure silicon and germanium. Because a thin film layer with a low thermal conductivity suppresses thermal conduction through a thermal sink, the SiGe alloy is considered to be a promising material for silicon-based thermoelectric systems.