A Study of Development of Thermoelectric Properties for Heat Transfer

Abstract

The introduction discusses a short summary of the conversion, materials and uses of thermoelectric energy. The few state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials possessing a high ZT (usually >1) are Bi₂Te₃, PbTe, CoSb₃ and SiGe. Ternary and quaternary copper chalcogenides have recently been identified as viable candidates for thermoelectric use. These materials are gaining great interest because of the richness of the earth and are mineral compounds. Tetrahedrite (Cu12Sb4S13) is the possible thermoelectric material stated as zT~1 according to the literature. In this work, the tetrahedrite compound is synthesised to evaluate its influence on the thermoelectric characteristics of tetrahedrite using several alternative components. The pure tetrahedrite is a semi-conductor p-type. The substituents with a greater oxidising status are thus replaced at Cu and Sb to lower the carrier concentration to achieve the ideal Fermi level. Furthermore, carrier correction will also minimise the electronic component of heat conductivity. The substitutes may also produce the mass fluctuation of phonons that decreases the thermal conductivity of the grille. Due to its varied features, which provide unlimited opportunity for developing fresh techniques to devise with increased thermoelectric (TE) efficiency, the researchers are interested in the fabrication of bulk crystals in Sb2Te3 compounds.