Thermoelectric material and thermoelectric module comprising the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11133449-B2
Application number	US-202017034214-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2020
Priority date	Dec 6, 2019
Publication date	Sep 28, 2021
Grant date	Sep 28, 2021

Abstract

A thermoelectric material includes a lower part from a bottom surface of the thermoelectric material to a point of 30% of an average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 40 at% or more in the thermoelectric material, and an upper part corresponding to a remaining 70% of the average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 20 at% or less in the thermoelectric material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermoelectric material comprising:
a lower part from a bottom surface of the thermoelectric material to a point of 30% of an average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 40 at% or more in the thermoelectric material; and
an upper part corresponding to a remaining 70% of the average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 1 to 20 at% in the thermoelectric material.

2. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the average thickness is 10 to 40 μm.

3. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the average content of carbon atoms contained in the lower part is 40 to 60 at% in the thermoelectric material.

4. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the average thickness is 10 to 40 μm; and
wherein the average content of carbon atoms contained in the lower part is 40 to 60 at% in the thermoelectric material.

5. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric material includes a P-type thermoelectric material and an N-type thermoelectric material.

6. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric material is optically sintered by irradiating 1/1000 to 1/100 second of xenon white light having an energy of 5 to 15 J/cm 2 with an applied voltage of 200 to 400V.

7. A thermoelectric module comprising:
a lower substrate;
a plurality of electrodes formed on the lower substrate;
a thermoelectric material formed to connect the plurality of electrodes, respectively, the thermoelectric material comprising:
a lower part from a bottom surface of the thermoelectric material to a point of 30% of an average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 40 at% or more in the thermoelectric material; and
an upper part corresponding to a remaining 70% of the average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 1 to 20 at% in the thermoelectric material; and

an upper substrate provided to face the lower substrate.

8. The thermoelectric module of claim 7 , wherein the lower substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyimide (PI), polycarbonate (PC), and polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and combinations thereof.

9. The thermoelectric module of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of electrodes includes an electrode formed from a material selected from the group consisting of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), carbon (C), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W), silver (Ag), platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), and aluminum (Al), and combinations thereof.

10. The thermoelectric module of claim 7 , wherein the thermoelectric material includes a P-type thermoelectric material and an N-type thermoelectric material.

11. The thermoelectric module of claim 7 , wherein the upper substrate is formed of the same material as the lower substrate.

12. The thermoelectric module of claim 7 , wherein the thermoelectric material is optically sintered by irradiating 1/1000 to 1/100 second of xenon white light having an energy of 5 to 15 J/cm 2 with an applied voltage of 200 to 400V.

13. The thermoelectric module of claim 10 , wherein the P-type thermoelectric material and the N-type thermoelectric material are alternately formed.

14. The thermoelectric module of claim 7 , wherein the average thickness is 10 to 40 μm.

15. The thermoelectric module of claim 7 , wherein the average content of carbon atoms contained in the lower part is 40 to 60 at% in the thermoelectric material.

16. A thermoelectric material comprising:
a lower part from a bottom surface of the thermoelectric material to a point of 30% of an average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 40 to 60 at% in the thermoelectric material; and
an upper part corresponding to a remaining 70% of the average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 20 at% or less in the thermoelectric material.

17. The thermoelectric material of claim 16 , wherein the average thickness is 10 to 40 μm.

18. The thermoelectric material of claim 16 , wherein the average content of carbon atoms contained in the upper part is 1 to 20 at% of the thermoelectric material.

19. The thermoelectric material of claim 16 , wherein the thermoelectric material includes a P-type thermoelectric material and an N-type thermoelectric material.

20. The thermoelectric material of claim 16 , wherein the thermoelectric material is optically sintered by irradiating 1/1000 to 1/100 second of xenon white light having an energy of 5 to 15 J/cm 2 with an applied voltage of 200 to 400V.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Lee Hoo Dam
• Kim Byung Wook
• Kwak Jin Woo
• Lee Min Jae
• Lee Woo Ju
• Kim Yoon Jin
• Kim Young Sun

Classifications

• H10N10/857 Primary

  comprising compositions changing continuously or discontinuously inside the material · CPC title

• H10N10/856 Primary

  comprising organic compositions · CPC title

• H10N10/817 Primary

  the junction being non-separable, e.g. being cemented, sintered or soldered · CPC title

• H10N10/855 Primary

  comprising compounds containing boron, carbon, oxygen or nitrogen · CPC title

• H10N10/8556

  comprising compounds containing germanium or silicon · CPC title