• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.75-85
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• 2017

Thermoelectric is a key technology for energy harvesting and solid-state cooling by direct thermal-to-electric energy conversion (or vice versa); however, the relatively low efficiency has limited thermoelectric systems to niche applications such as space power generation and small-scale or high-density cooling. To expand into larger scale power generation and cooling applications such as ATEG (automotive thermoelectric generators) and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), high-performance bulk thermoelectric materials and their low-cost processing are essential prerequisites. Recently, the performance of commercial thermoelectric materials including $Bi_2Te_3$-, PbTe-, skutterudite-, and half-Heusler-based compounds has been significantly improved through non-equilibrium processing technologies for defect engineering. This review summarizes material design approaches for the formation of multi-dimensional and multi-scale defect structures that can be used to manipulate both the electronic and thermal transport properties, and our recent progress in the synthesis of conventional thermoelectric materials with defect structures is described.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.19-20
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• 2013

Thermoelectic properties of the typical thermoelectric host materials, the tellurides and selenides, are known to be noticeably changed by their volume change due to the strain [1]. In the bismuth telluride ($Bi_2Te_3$) crystal, a substitution of rare-earth element by replacing one of the Bi atoms may cause the change of the lattice parameters while remaining the rhombohedral structure of the host material. Using the first-principles approach by the precise full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method [2], we investigated the Ce substitution effect on the thermoelectric transport coefficients for the bismuth telluride, employing Boltzmann's equation in a constant relaxation-time approach fed with the FLAPW wave-functions within the rigid band approximation. Depending on the real process of re-arrangement of atoms in the cell to reach the equilibrium state, $CeBiTe_3$ was found to manifest a metal or a narrow bandgap semiconductor. This feature along with the strong correlation effect originated by the 4f states of Ce affect significantly on the thermoelectric properties. We showed that the position of the strongly localized f-states in energy scale (Fig. 1, f-states are shaded) was found to alter critically the transport properties in this material suggesting an opportunity to improve the thermoelectric efficiency by tuning the external strain which may changing the location of the f-sates.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.518-524
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• 2017

A flexible thermoelectric device using body heat has drawn attention as a power source for wearable devices. In this study, thermoelectric thick films were fabricated by cold pressing method using p-type antimony telluride and n-type bismuth telluride powders in accordance with specific loads. Thermoelectric thick films were denser and improved the electrical and thermoelectric properties while increasing the load of the cold pressing. The thickness of the specimen can be controlled by the amount of material; specimens were approximately 700 um in thickness. Flexible thermoelectric devices were manufactured by using the thermoelectric thick films on PI (Polyimide) substrate. The process is cheap, efficient, easy and scalable. Evaluation of power generation performance and flexibility on the fabricated flexible thermoelectric device was carried out. The flexible thermoelectric device has great flexibility and good performance and can be applied to wearable electronics as a power source.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.126-131
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• 2016

The recent rise in applications of thermoelectric materials has attracted interest in studies toward the fabrication of thermoelectric materials using mass production techniques. In this study, we successfully fabricate n-type $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$ material by a combination of mass production powder metallurgy techniques, gas atomization, and spark plasma sintering. In addition, to examine the effects of hydrogen reduction in the microstructure, the thermoelectric and mechanical properties are measured and analyzed. Here, almost 60% of the oxygen content of the powder are eliminated after hydrogen reduction for 4 h at $360^{\circ}C$. Micrographs of the powder show that the reduced powder had a comparatively clean surface and larger grain sizes than unreduced powder. The density of the consolidated bulk using as-atomized powder and reduced atomized powder exceeds 99%. The thermoelectric power factor of the sample prepared by reduction of powder is 20% better than that of the sample prepared using unreduced powder.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2022

Recent advancement of Internet of Things (IoT) and energy harvesting technology enable realization of flexible thermoelectric energy harvester (f-TEH), with technological prowess for use in biomedical monitoring system integrated applications. To expand a flexible thermoelectric energy harvesting platform, the f-TEH must be required for optimized flexible thermoelectric materials and device structure. In response to these demands related to thermoelectric energy harvesting, many research groups have investigated various f-TEHs applied as a power source for wearable electronics. As a key member of the f-TEH, film-based f-TEHs possess significant applicability in research to realize self-powered wearable electronics, owing to their excellent flexibility, low thermal conductivity, and convenient fabrication process. Thus, based on the rapid growth of thermoelectric film technology, this review aims to overview comprehensively the f-TEH made of various inorganic/organic thermoelectric materials including developed fabrication methods, high thermoelectric performance, and wide-range applications.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1552-1554
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• 1998

TEC(Thermoelectric conversion) is direct conversion method between thermal energy and electric energy. We studied on the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of thermoelectric module, made experimental thermoelectric generator with BiTe material and manufactured module tester for electric-thermal energy conversion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.113.2-113.2
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• 2014

Heat is a familiar form of energy transported from a hot side to a colder side of an object, but not a notion associated with microscopic measurements of electronic properties. A temperature difference within a material causes charge carriers, electrons or holes, to diffuse along the temperature gradient inducing a thermoelectric voltage. Here we show that local thermoelectric measurements can yield high sensitivity imaging of structural disorder on the atomic and nanometre scales. Using this imaging technique, we discovered a defect-mediated dimensional evolution of strain-response patterns in epitaxial graphene with increasing thickness.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.253-259
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• 1996

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 ${CdCl}_{2}$ quantity and hot pressing temperature. Quenched ribbons are very brittle and consist of homogeneous $Bi_2Te_3$, ${Bi}_{2}{Se}_{3}$ solid solutions. When the process parameters were optimized, the maximum figure of merit was 2.038$\times$$10^{-3}K^{-4}. The bending strength of the material hot pressed at 50$0^{\circ}C$ was 8.2 kgf/${mm}^2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2000.05b
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• pp.21-24
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• 2000

Properties of thermoelectric power in PbS thin films by chemical bath deposition were investigated The qualified PbS thin film was gained with the amounts of Thiourea($4-8ml/{\ell}$ ), Triethanolamine (1-2ml) and NaOH(l0ml). The molecular ratio of Pb and S was 3 : 7. Satisfied crystallization rate and deposition rate of PbS were greater at $50^{\circ}C$ than at $30^{\circ}C$. The constant of thermoelectric power in PbS was nearly $ 500uv/^{\circ}k$. The PbS thin film was changed from p-type to n-type semiconductor at around $200^{\circ}C$. In case of heat treatment at $300^{\circ}C$, the sample kept the characteristic of p-type semiconductors up to $250^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.175-180
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• 2008

Thermoelectric materials convert temperature difference to electric power for power generation and vice versa for refrigeration. Recent advances in enhancing the thermoelectric figure-of-merit shed light on efficient power generation from the waste heat available in industries and vehicles. Nanoscale phenomena with both nanoscale constituent-embedded bulk samples and nanoscale materials proving enhanced thermoelectric performance have been widely reviewed. Bulk materials of crystal-orientation and nano-structured particle embedding seem to promise a higher thermoelectric figure-of-merit and an effective power generation application. As a preliminary study, Si-Ge nanocomposite was prepared with spark plasma sintering method and its properties were examined.