Thermoelectric material and method of preparing the thermoelectric material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9419197-B2
Application number	US-201313783559-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2013
Priority date	May 9, 2012
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

Abstract

A method of preparing thermoelectric material particles, the method comprising: disposing a first electrode and a second electrode in a dielectric liquid medium, wherein the first and second electrodes each comprise a thermoelectric material; applying an electrical potential between the first and second electrodes to cause a spark between the first and second electrodes to provide a vaporized thermoelectric material at a sparking point of at least one of the first and second electrodes; and cooling the vaporized thermoelectric material with the dielectric liquid medium to prepare the thermoelectric material particles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of preparing thermoelectric material particles, the method comprising:
disposing a first electrode and a second electrode in a dielectric liquid medium, wherein the first and second electrodes each comprise a thermoelectric material;
applying an electrical potential between the first and second electrodes to cause a spark between the first and second electrodes to provide a vaporized thermoelectric material at a sparking point of at least one of the first and second electrodes; and
cooling the vaporized thermoelectric material with the dielectric liquid medium to prepare the thermoelectric material particles,
wherein the thermoelectric material is a bulk thermoelectric material and comprises a Bi—Sb alloy, an Sb—Te alloy, a Bi—Te alloy, a Bi—Sb—Te alloy, a Bi—Sb—Te—Se alloy, or a combination thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric liquid medium comprises water, an organic solvent, a cryogenic liquefied gas, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the dielectric liquid medium is water.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric material is represented by the Formula 1:
Bi x Sb y Te z ,  Formula 1

wherein 0≦x≦2, y=2−x, and 2.7≦z≦3.3.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein Formula 1 satisfies the conditions 0.001≦x≦1.999, y=2−x, and 2.7≦z≦3.3.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second electrodes comprise a cast, pressed, forged, or a crushed ingot.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second electrodes are each a rotating disk electrode and each consists of a bulk thermoelectric material.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the disposing further comprises vibrating a plurality of charge pieces, which are disposed between the first and second electrodes, wherein the plurality of charge pieces comprise the thermoelectric material and a charge piece of the plurality of charge pieces is a bulk thermoelectric material.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical potential is about 50 to about 400 volts.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prepared thermoelectric material particles have an average particle diameter of about 10 to about 100 nanometers.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prepared thermoelectric material particles comprise nanoparticles having an average particle diameter of about 10 to about 100 nanometers and microparticles having a particle diameter of about 0.1 to about 10 micrometers.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the microparticles comprise grains having a dimension of about 1 to about 50 nanometers.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second electrodes further comprises a filler.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein an amount of the filler is about 0.1 to about 20 weight percent, based on a total weight of an electrode comprising the filler.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric liquid medium comprises a nano-dispersed filler or a dissolved filler.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein an amount of the nano-dispersed filler or the dissolved filler in the dielectric liquid medium is about 0.1 to about 10 volume percent, based on a total volume of the dielectric liquid medium.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Univ California

Inventors

• Lee Sang-Mock
• Lee Kyu-Hyoung
• Jin Sung-Ho
• Berkowitz Ami

Classifications

• H10N10/853 Primary

  comprising arsenic, antimony or bismuth (H10N10/852 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B82Y30/00

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title

• C01B19/007

  Tellurides or selenides of metals (C01B19/002 takes precedence) · CPC title

• Y10S977/901

  having step or means utilizing electromagnetic property, e.g. optical, x-ray, electron beamm · CPC title

• C22C28/00

  Alloys based on a metal not provided for in groups C22C5/00 - C22C27/00 · CPC title