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Experimental Transport Phenomena and Optimization Strategies for Thermoelectrics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

A. C. Ehrlich  and
D. J. Gillespie
A. C. Ehrlich
Affiliation:
Code 6341, U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375
D. J. Gillespie
Affiliation:
Code 6341, U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375
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Abstract

When a new and promising thermoelectric material is discovered, an effort is undertaken to improve its “figure of merit”. If the effort is to be more efficient than one of trial and error with perhaps some “rule of thumb guidance” then it is important to be able to make the connection between experimental data and the underlying material characteristics, electronic and phononic, that influence the figure of merit. Transport and fermiology experimental data can be used to evaluate these material characteristics and thus establish trends as a function of some controllable parameter, such as composition. In this paper some of the generic-materials characteristics, generally believed to be required for a high figure of merit, will be discussed in terms of the experimental approach to their evaluation and optimization. Transport and fermiology experiments will be emphasized and both will be outlined in what they can reveal and what can be obscured by the simplifying assumptions generally used in their interpretation.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 478: Symposium Q – Thermoelectric Materials - New Directions and Approaches , 1997 , 37
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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