Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation Behaviour
Reducing the thermal conductivity of thermoelectric materials has been a field of intense research to improve the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. One approach is to create a nanostructured thermoelectric material that has a low thermal conductivity due to its high number of grain boundaries or...
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Nanomaterials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/13/11/1778 |
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| author | Hendrik Joost van Ginkel Lisa Mitterhuber Marijn Willem van de Putte Mark Huijben Sten Vollebregt Guoqi Zhang |
| author_facet | Hendrik Joost van Ginkel Lisa Mitterhuber Marijn Willem van de Putte Mark Huijben Sten Vollebregt Guoqi Zhang |
| author_sort | Hendrik Joost van Ginkel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reducing the thermal conductivity of thermoelectric materials has been a field of intense research to improve the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. One approach is to create a nanostructured thermoelectric material that has a low thermal conductivity due to its high number of grain boundaries or voids, which scatter phonons. Here, we present a new method based on spark ablation nanoparticle generation to create nanostructured thermoelectric materials, demonstrated using Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>. The lowest achieved thermal conductivity was <0.1 W m<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mrow></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> K<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mrow></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> at room temperature with a mean nanoparticle size of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>8</mn><mo>±</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> nm and a porosity of 44%. This is comparable to the best published nanostructured Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> films. Oxidation is also shown to be a major issue for nanoporous materials such as the one here, illustrating the importance of immediate, air-tight packaging of such materials after synthesis and deposition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:00:42Z |
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| issn | 2079-4991 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:00:42Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nanomaterials |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ead7e76516448eabd9664ddaf9009d72023-11-18T08:19:23ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912023-05-011311177810.3390/nano13111778Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation BehaviourHendrik Joost van Ginkel0Lisa Mitterhuber1Marijn Willem van de Putte2Mark Huijben3Sten Vollebregt4Guoqi Zhang5Department of Microelectronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The NetherlandsMaterials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH, A-8700 Leoben, AustriaMESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7522 NH Enschede, The NetherlandsMESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7522 NH Enschede, The NetherlandsDepartment of Microelectronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Microelectronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The NetherlandsReducing the thermal conductivity of thermoelectric materials has been a field of intense research to improve the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. One approach is to create a nanostructured thermoelectric material that has a low thermal conductivity due to its high number of grain boundaries or voids, which scatter phonons. Here, we present a new method based on spark ablation nanoparticle generation to create nanostructured thermoelectric materials, demonstrated using Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>. The lowest achieved thermal conductivity was <0.1 W m<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mrow></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> K<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mrow></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> at room temperature with a mean nanoparticle size of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>8</mn><mo>±</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> nm and a porosity of 44%. This is comparable to the best published nanostructured Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> films. Oxidation is also shown to be a major issue for nanoporous materials such as the one here, illustrating the importance of immediate, air-tight packaging of such materials after synthesis and deposition.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/13/11/1778thermoelectricnanoparticleBi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>spark ablationnanostructured |
| spellingShingle | Hendrik Joost van Ginkel Lisa Mitterhuber Marijn Willem van de Putte Mark Huijben Sten Vollebregt Guoqi Zhang Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation Behaviour Nanomaterials thermoelectric nanoparticle Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> spark ablation nanostructured |
| title | Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation Behaviour |
| title_full | Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation Behaviour |
| title_fullStr | Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation Behaviour |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation Behaviour |
| title_short | Nanostructured Thermoelectric Films Synthesised by Spark Ablation and Their Oxidation Behaviour |
| title_sort | nanostructured thermoelectric films synthesised by spark ablation and their oxidation behaviour |
| topic | thermoelectric nanoparticle Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> spark ablation nanostructured |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/13/11/1778 |
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