Nanostructured thermoelectric bismuth telluride electrochemically grown

Abstract

Thermoelectricity allows the conversion of wasted heat into usable electrical energy. Different materials, mainly semiconductors, show fairly good thermoelectric conversion efficiencies, such as bismuth telluride, which is the most widely used material for room temperature applications. But the properties involved on this effect (Seebeck coefficient, electrical and thermal conductivity) are intrinsic properties, which are interlinked in classical physics. Recently, in order to modify or enhance the thermoelectric performance of a material, one of the routes developed is to nanostructure the material and thus, increase the surface to volume ratio and, through an enhancement of the phonon scattering in these surfaces, reduce the thermal conductivity of the material, which is inversely proportional to the efficiency, without affecting the Seebeck and the electrical conductivity.