Thermoelectric generator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10424708-B2
Application number	US-201514878481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2015
Priority date	Apr 11, 2013
Publication date	Sep 24, 2019
Grant date	Sep 24, 2019

Abstract

A thermoelectric generator includes a perovskite dielectric substrate containing Sr and Ti and having electric conductivity by being doped to n-type; an energy filter formed on a top surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate, the energy filter including a first perovskite dielectric film, which contains Sr and Ti, has electric conductivity by being doped to n-type, and has a conduction band at an energy level higher than that of the perovskite dielectric substrate; a first electrode formed in electrical contact with a bottom surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate; and a second electrode formed in electrical contact with a top surface of the energy filter. The thermoelectric generator produces a voltage between the first and second electrodes by the top surface of the energy filter being exposed to a first temperature and the bottom surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate being exposed to a second temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermoelectric generator comprising:
a perovskite dielectric substrate containing Sr and Ti and having electric conductivity by being doped to n-type;
an energy filter including n-type conducting layers formed on a top surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate, the energy filter at least including a first perovskite dielectric film containing Sr and Ti and having electric conductivity by being doped to n-type, the first perovskite dielectric film having a different composition than the perovskite dielectric substrate such as to have a conduction band at an energy level higher than a conduction band of the perovskite dielectric substrate;
a first electrode formed in electrical contact with a bottom surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate; and
a second electrode formed in electrical contact with a top surface of the energy filter, wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate and the energy filter constitute a perovskite stack having a thickness that is not greater than 0.25 mm, and
the thermoelectric generator produces a voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode by the top surface of the energy filter being exposed to a first temperature and the bottom surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate being exposed to a second temperature,
wherein the energy filter including n-type conducting layers includes a second perovskite dielectric film formed on the first perovskite dielectric film, the second perovskite dielectric film containing Sr and Ti and having electric conductivity by being doped to n-type, the second perovskite dielectric film having a different composition than the first perovskite dielectric film such as to have a conduction band at an energy level lower than the conduction band of the first perovskite dielectric film.

2. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate has a thickness that is not greater than 0.1 mm.

3. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate has a thickness that is not less than 0.05 nm.

4. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the energy filter has a thickness within a range of 1 nm through 1000 nm.

5. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate and the energy filter are held in a supporting base body, and
the bottom surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate matches a bottom surface of the supporting base body.

6. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the first perovskite dielectric film forms a potential barrier with respect to the perovskite dielectric substrate.

7. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the first perovskite dielectric film and the second perovskite dielectric film are alternately and repeatedly stacked in the energy filter.

8. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the second perovskite dielectric film has a same composition as that of the perovskite dielectric substrate.

9. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate, the first perovskite dielectric film, and the second perovskite dielectric film are doped by La.

10. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate, the first perovskite dielectric film, and the second perovskite dielectric film are doped by Nb.

11. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate, the first perovskite dielectric film, and the second perovskite dielectric film are doped by La and Nb.

12. The thermoelectric generator according to claim 1 , wherein
the perovskite dielectric substrate, the first perovskite dielectric film, and the second perovskite dielectric film are doped by oxygen defect.

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Baniecki John David
• Ishii Masatoshi
• Kurihara Kazuaki

Classifications

• H01L35/26

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/12 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/34

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/22

  Electricity · mapped topic