• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2010

The present study focused on the synthesis of Bi-Sb-Te-based thermoelectric powder by an oxidereduction process. The phase structure, particle size of the synthesized powders were analyzed using XRD and SEM. The synthesized powder was sintered by the spark plasma sintering method. The thermoelectric property of the sintered body was evaluated by measuring the Seebeck coefficient and specific electric resistivity. The $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ powder had been synthesized by a combination of mechanical milling, calcination and reduction processes using mixture of $Bi_2O_3$, $Sb_2O_3$ and $TeO_2$ powders. The sintered body of the $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ powder synthesized by an oxide-reduction process showed p-type thermoelectric characteristics, even though it had lower thermoelectric properties than the sintered body of the $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ thermoelectric powder synthesized by the conventional melting-crushing method.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.136-141
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• 2010

Bismuth-telluride based $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3$ thermoelectric powders were fabricated by two-step planetary milling process which produces bimodal size distribution ranging $400\;nm\;{\sim}\;2\;{\mu}m$. The powders were reduced in hydrogen atmosphere to minimize oxygen contents which cause degradation of thermoelectric performance by decreasing electrical conductivity. Oxygen contents were decreased from 0.48% to 0.25% by the reduction process. In this study, both the as-synthesized and the reduced powders were consolidated by the spark plasma sintering process at $350^{\circ}C$ for 10 min at the heating rate of $100^{\circ}C/min$ and then their thermoelectric properties were investigated. The sintered samples using the reduced p-type thermoelectric powders show 15% lower specific electrical resistivity ($0.8\;m{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$) than those of the as-synthesized powders while Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity do not change a lot. The results confirmed that ZT value of thermoelectric performance at room temperature was improved by 15% due to high electric conductivity caused by the controlled oxygen contents present at bismuth telluride materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.53-53
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• 2018

Thermoelectric materials can convert directly waste heat to electricity and vice versa. The improvement of the thermoelectric efficiency strongly depends on the dimensionless figure of merit, $ZT=S^2{\sigma}T/{\kappa}$, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, ${\sigma}$ is the electrical conductivity, T is the absolute temperature, and ${\kappa}$ is the thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity consists of the electronic contribution (${\kappa}_e$) and phonon contribution (${\kappa}_{ph}$). It is very challenge to increase the power factor, $S^2{\sigma}$ and to reduce the thermal conductivity simultaneously because the power factor and electronic thermal conductivity are coupled. One strategy is to decrease the phonon thermal conductivity. The phonon thermal conductivity can be decreased by controlling the grain size and structural defects such as dislocations and twinning. In order to achieve enhancements in thermoelectric efficiency, microstructures that can form numerous interfaces have been investigated intensively for controlling the transport of charge carriers and heat carrying phonons. In this presentation, we report the heterogeneous microstructure of $Mg_2Si_{0.6}Sn_{0.4}$ thermoelectric materials and investigation of its influence on thermoelectric properties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.142-142
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• 2007

Micro thermoelectric generator has been attractive for the alternative power source to operate the wireless sensor node. In this paper, we designed the column-type micro thermoelectric device and their device characteristics were measured. n-type Bi2Te3 and p-type BiSbTe3 thermoelectric thin films were grown on (001) GaAs substrates by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) and they were pattemed. The height of thermoelectric film were controlled by the deposition time, temperature and MO-x gas pressure. Seebeck coefficient was measured at room temperature and hole concentration and electrical resistivity of thermoelectric film were also characterized.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.212-212
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• 2009

Thermoelectric devices were used to wide range of application. At present, increasing the efficiency of these devices, in particular, through the preparation of materials showing a high thermoelectric figure of merit, Z, $Bi_2Te_3$ and $Sb_2Te_3$ thin films on Si substrates are deposited by flash evaporation method for thermopile sensor applications. In order to enhance the thermoelectric properties of the thin film, annealing in high vacuum is carried out in the temperature range from 200 to $350^{\circ}C$. The microstructure of the film is investigated by XRD and SEM. The resistivity and Seebeck coefficient of the films are measured by Van der Pauw method and hot probe method respectively. At elevating annealing temperature, the crystallinity and thermoelectrical properties of films are improved by increasing the size of grains. At excessive high annealing temperatures, it is shown that Seebeck coefficient of films is decreased because of Te evaporation. By optimizing the annealing conditions, it is possible to obtain a high performance thin film with a thermoelectric properties.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.437-442
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• 2011

The present study focused on the synthesis of Bi-Te-Se-based powder by an oxide-reduction process, and analysis of the thermoelectric properties of the synthesized powder. The phase structure, chemical composition, and morphology of the synthesized powder were analyzed by XRD, EPMA and SEM. The synthesized powder was sintered by spark plasma sintering. The thermoelectric properties of the sintered body were evaluated by measuring its Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity. $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$ powder was synthesized from a mixture of $Bi_2O_3$, $TeO_2$, and $SeO_2$ powders by mechanical milling, calcination, and reduction. The sintered body of the synthesized powder exhibited n-type thermoelectric characteristics. The thermoelectric properties of the sintered bodies depend on the reduction temperature. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity of the sintered body were increased with increasing reduction temperature. The sintered body of the $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$ powder synthesized at $360^{\circ}C$ showed about 0.5 of the figure of merit (ZT) at room temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.632-637
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• 2000

Thermoelectric conversion properties of commercial Fe-Si2 and Fe-Si alloy ingots prepared by RF inductive furnace were investigated. As sintering temperature increased, density of the specimen increased and the phase transformation from metallic phases ($\varepsilon$-FeSi, ${\alpha}$-Fe2Si5) to semiconducting phase (${\beta}$-FeSi2) occurred more effectively. The FeSi phase was detected even after 100hrs of annealing treatment. For the Fesi1.95∼FeSi2.05 specimens prepared by RF inductive furnace, the thermoelectric property improved as the composition of the specimen approached to stoichiometric composition FeSi2. Electrical conductivity of the specimen increased with increasing temperatures showing typical semiconducting behavior. From the electrical conductivity measurements, activation energy in the intrinsic region (above about 700 K) was calculated to be approximately 0.46 eV. In spite of non-doping, the Seebeck coefficient for every specimen exhibited p-type conduction due to Si deficiency. Its maximum value was located at about 475 K, and then decreased abruptly with increasing temperatures. The power factor was governed by the Seebeck coefficient of the specimen more significantly than by electrical conductivity.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.174-176
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• 2016

In this study, we maximize the temperature difference between the ends of a HgTe nanoparticle(NP) thin film on a thermoelectric platform with a through-substrate via. The thermoelectric characteristics of the HgTe NP thin film show p-type behavior and its Seebeck coefficient is $290{\mu}V/K$. In addition, we demonstrate the possibility of wearable thermoelectric devices transforming body heat into electricity from through-substrate via thermoelectric platforms on human skin.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1459-1462
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• 2007

In general a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) consists of a series of P type and N type thermoelectric materials sandwiched between two wafers. When a DC current passes through these materials, three different effects take place; Peltier effect, Joule heating effect and heat transfer by conduction due to temperature difference between hot and cold plates. In this study we have developed a micro TEC using $Bi_2Te_3$ (N type) and $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ (P type) thin films. In order to improve that performance of a micro TEC, we made 10 um height TE legs using special PR only for lift-off. We measured COP (coefficient of performance) and temperature difference between hot and cold connectors with current.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2001

Abstract To investigate the effect of mechanical alloying process to thermoelectric properties of PbTe sintered body, Pb-Te mixed powder with Pb : Te : 1 : 1 composition was mechanically alloyed using tumbler-ball mill. Thermoelectric properties of the sintered body were evaluated by measuring of the Seebeck coefficient and specific electric resistivity from the room temperature to 50$0^{\circ}C$. Sintered body of only mechanically alloyed PbTe powder showed p-type behavior at the room temperature, and occurred type transition from p-type to n-type at about 30$0^{\circ}C$. PbTe sintered body which was fabricated using heat treated powder in $H_2$ atmosphere after mechanical alloying showed stable n-type behavior under 50$0^{\circ}C$. N-type PbTe sintered body fabricated by mechanical alloying process had 4 times higher power factor than that fabricated by the melt-crushing process. Application of a mechanical alloying process to fabricate of n-type PbTe thermoelectric material seemed to be useful to increase the power factor of PbTe sintered body.