Low-temperatures heat to electricit

Low-temperatures heat to electricity conversion technologies have gained an interest in recent years for utilizing a low-grade waste heat, such as that developed in the human body, the automotive and industrial sectors, and even in photovoltaic cells subjected to an intense solar radiation, into useful electricity. Such energy conversion can be obtained by thermoelectric devices. The most efficient thermoelectric compositions at temperatures lower than 300 degrees C are the p-type BixSb2-xTe3 and n-type Bi2TexSe3-x bismuth telluride-based alloys. Yet, to date, higher conversion efficiencies were associated with the p-type alloys, leaving an unfulfilled potential of n-type Bi2TexSe3-x. In the current research, synthesis optimization procedures of n-type Bi2Te2.4Se0.6 by combining the melt-spinning approach, capable of retaining some of the preferred crystallographic orientation, as required for electronic optimization, with hot-pressing, are reported. A high figure of merit, ZT, value of similar to 1.07 at a temperature of similar to 65 degrees C was obtained parallel to the pressing direction, at a wheel-spinning frequency of 300 rpm, which was attributed to the similar to 50% maintained anisotropy of the inherent crystallographic structure.