Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Trustees of Boston College

Bo Yu

Zhifeng Ren

Gang Paul Chen

Mildred S Dresselhaus

Shuo Chen

Bed Poudel

Xiaoyuan Chen

Xiao Yan

Dezhi Wang

Yucheng Lan

Qing Hao

Wei-Shu Liu

Yi Ma

Hengzhi Wang

Xiaowei Wang

Hui Wang

Joshi R Giri

Methods for synthesis of thermoelectric materials are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method of fabricating a thermoelectric material includes generating a plurality of nanoparticles from a starting material comprising one or more chalcogens and one or more transition metals; and consolidating the nanoparticles under elevated pressure and temperature, wherein the nanoparticles are heated and cooled at a controlled rate.

Methods of synthesizing thermoelectric materials

Thermoelectric materials with high figures of merit, ZT values, are disclosed. In many instances, such materials include nano-sized domains (e.g., nanocrystalline), which are hypothesized to help increase the ZT value of the material (e.g., by increasing phonon scattering due to interfaces at grain boundaries or grain/inclusion boundaries). The ZT value of such materials can be greater than about 1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 2 and even higher. Such materials can be manufactured from a thermoelectric starting material by generating nanoparticles therefrom, or mechanically alloyed nanoparticles from elements which can be subsequently consolidated (e.g., via direct current induced hot press) into a new bulk material. Non-limiting examples of starting materials include bismuth, lead, and/or silicon-based materials, which can be alloyed, elemental, and/or doped. Various compositions and methods relating to aspects of nanostructured thermoelectric materials (e.g., modulation doping) are further disclosed.

Methods for high figure-of-merit in nanostructured thermoelectric materials

Growing community of inventors

West Roxbury, MA, United States of America

Bo Yu