High-performance flat-panel solar thermoelectric generators with high thermal concentration

Nature Materials

Volumn 10, Issue 7, 2011, Pages 532-538

  Kraemer, Daniel ^a   Poudel, Bed ^b   Feng, Hsien Ping ^a   Caylor, J Christopher ^b   Yu, Bo ^c   Yan, Xiao ^c   Ma, Yi ^c   Wang, Xiaowei ^c   Wang, Dezhi ^c   Muto, Andrew ^a   McEnaney, Kenneth ^a   Chiesa, Matteo ^a,d   Ren, Zhifeng ^c   Chen, Gang ^a  

^a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge   (United States)

^b GMZ Energy Inc   (United States)

^c BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

^d KHALIFA UNIVERSITY   (United Arab Emirates)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COST EFFECTIVENESS; ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT; HEAT ENGINES; PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS; PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS; SOLAR ENERGY; SOLAR EQUIPMENT; SOLAR HEATING; SOLAR POWER GENERATION; THERMOELECTRIC EQUIPMENT; THERMOELECTRICITY;

INNOVATIVE DESIGN; LARGE-SCALE POWER PLANTS; OPTICAL CONCENTRATORS; SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY; SOLAR THERMAL POWER GENERATION; SOLAR THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS; SPECTRALLY SELECTIVE SOLAR ABSORBERS; THERMO-ELECTRIC MATERIALS;

SOLAR ABSORBERS;

EID: 79959500503     PISSN: 14761122     EISSN: 14764660     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/nmat3013     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Lewis, N. et al. Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization. (DOE Office of Science, 2005); available at http://www.er.doe.gov/bes/reports/ abstracts.html.
2. Luque, A. & Hegedus, S. Handbook of Phovoltaic Science and Engineering (Wiley, 2003).
3. Green, M. A. Third Generation Photovoltaics: Advanced Solar Energy Conversion (Springer, 2003).
4. Mills, D. Advances in solar thermal electricity technology. Sol. Energy 76, 19-31 (2004). (Pubitemid 38047610)
5. Roeb, M. & Muller-Steinhagen, H. Concentrating on solar electricity and fuels. Science 329, 773-774 (2010).
6. Goldsmid, H. J. Thermoelectric Refrigeration (Plenum, 1964).
7. Rowe, D. M. Thermoelectrics Handbook Nano to Macro (CRC Taylor & Francis, 2006).
8. Venkatasubramanian, R., Siivola, E., Colpitts, T. & O'Quinn, B. Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit. Nature 413, 597-602 (2001). (Pubitemid 32964053)
9. Harman, T. C., Taylor, P. J., Walsh, M. P. & LaForge, B. E. Quantum dot superlattice thermoelectric materials and devices. Science 297, 2229-2232 (2002).
10. 2+m: Bulk thermoelectric materials with high figure of merit. Science 303, 818-821 (2004). (Pubitemid 38174655)
11. Dresselhaus, M. S. et al. New directions for low-dimensional thermoelectric materials. Adv. Mater. 19, 1043-1053 (2007). (Pubitemid 46942265)
12. Poudel, B. et al. High-thermoelectric performance of nanostructured bismuth antimony telluride bulk alloys. Science 320, 634-638 (2008). (Pubitemid 351928340)
13. Heremans, J. P. et al. Enhancement of thermoelectric efficiency in PbTe by distortion of the electronic density of states. Science 321, 554-557 (2008).
14. Boukai, A. I. et al. Silicon nanowires as efficient thermoelectric materials. Nature 451, 168-171 (2008).
15. Hochbaum, A. I. et al. Enhanced thermoelectric performance of rough silicon nanowires. Nature 451, 163-167 (2008).
16. Snyder, G. J. & Toberer, E. S. Complex thermoelectric materials. Nature Mater. 7, 105-114 (2008). (Pubitemid 351187650)
17. 3-delta crystals. Nature 459, 965-968 (2009).
18. Zhao, X. B. et al. Bismuth telluride nanotubes and the effects on the thermoelectric properties of nanotube-containing nanocomposites. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 062111 (2005).
19. 3 with layered nanostructure. Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 012102 (2007).
20. Tritt, T. M. & Subramanian, M. A. (eds) Energy harvesting through thermoelectrics: Power generation and cooling. MRS Bull. 31, 188-194 (2006).
21. Vining, C. B. An inconvenient truth about thermoelectrics. Nature Mater. 8, 83-85 (2009).
22. Yang, J. H. & Stabler, F. R. Automotive applications of thermoelectric materials. J. Electron. Mater. 38, 1245-1251 (2009).
23. Bell, L. Cooling, heating, generating power, and recovering waste heat with thermoelectric systems. Science 321, 1457-1461 (2008).
24. Telkes, M. Solar thermoelectric generators. J. Appl. Phys. 25, 765-777 (1954).
25. Tobias, I. & Luque, A. Ideal efficiency and potential of solar thermophotonic converters under optically and thermally concentrated power flux. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 49, 2024-2030 (2002).
26. Goldsmid, H. J., Giutronich, J. E. & Kaila, M. M. Solar thermoelectric generation using bismuth telluride alloys. Sol. Energy 24, 435-440 (1980). (Pubitemid 11423772)
27. Rush, R. Solar Flat Plate Thermoelectric Generator Research. Tech. Doc. Rep. Air Force AD 605931 (General Electric Corp., 1964).
28. Dent, C. L. & Cobble, M. H. Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Thermoelectric Energy Conversion 75-78 (IEEE, 1982).
29. Mgbemene, C. A., Duffy, J., Sun, H. & Onyegegbu, S. O. ASME Conf. Proc. ES2008 (ASME, 2008).
30. Li, P. et al. Design of a concentration solar thermoelectric generator. J. Electron. Mater. 39, 1522-1530 (2010).
31. Fuschillo, N. & Gibson, R. Germanium-silicon, lead telluride, and bismuth telluride alloy solar thermoelectric generators for venus and mercury probes. Adv. Energy Conversion 7, 43-52 (1967).
32. Raag, V., Berlin, R. E., Bifano, & Bifano, W. J. Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conf. (1968).
33. Scherrer, H., Vikhor, L., Lenior, B., Dauscher, A. & Poinas, P. Solar thermolectric generator based on skutterudites. J. Power Source 115, 141-148 (2003). (Pubitemid 41325509)
34. Yin, Z. Q. Development of solar thermal systems in China. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 86, 427-442 (2005).
35. Weiss, W., Bergmann, I. & Stelzer, R. Solar Heat Worldwide, Markets and Contribution to the Energy Supply 2007 (International Energy Agency, 2009).
36. 3 for low temperature thermoelectric generator. J. Phys. D 43, 335404 (2010).
37. Xie, W., Tang, X., Yan, Y., Zhang, Q. & Tritt, T. M. High thermoelectric performance BiSbTe alloy with unique low-dimensional structure. J. Appl. Phys. 105, 113713 (2009).
38. Bulat, L. P. et al. Bulk nanostructured polycrystalline p-Bi-Sb-Te thermoelectrics obtained by mechanical activation method with hot pressing. J. Electron. Mater. 39, 1650-1653 (2010).
39. Ma, Y. et al. Enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit in p-type nanostructured bismuth antimony tellurium alloys made from elemental chunks. Nano Lett. 8, 2580-2584 (2008).
40. 0.3. Nano Lett. 10, 3373-3378 (2010).
41. Muto, A., Kraemer, D., Hao, Q., Ren, Z. F. & Chen, G. Thermoelectric properties and efficiency measurements under large temperature differences. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 80, 093901 (2009).