Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Trustees of Boston College

Joshi R Giri

Zhifeng Ren

Gang Paul Chen

Mildred S Dresselhaus

Xiaoyuan Chen

Bed Poudel

Dezhi Wang

Xiao Yan

Yucheng Lan

Bo Yu

Qing Hao

Yi Ma

Xiaowei Wang

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

Allston, MA, United States of America

Joshi R Giri