N-type thermoelectric material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9478724-B2
Application number	US-201414584864-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2014
Priority date	Jan 16, 2014
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

The n-type thermoelectric material has a composition represented by (A a B b C c D t )Co 4-y Fe y Sb 12 . In the composition, 0≦a≦0.5, 0≦b≦0.7, 0<c≦0.5, a+b+c+t=x, 0.4≦x≦1.0, 0≦y≦0.5, a+b>0; Element A is Mg, Ca, Sr and/or Ba; Element B is Y, Sc and/or La to Lu; Element C is Al, Ga and/or In; and Element D is Zn and/or Ti. The A a B b C c D t (=R x ) satisfies R x =[Ba d A′ 1-d ] a [Yb e B′ 1-e ] b [In f C′ 1-f ] c D t . In the formula, 0<d≦1, 0≦e≦1, 0<f≦1, ad+be>0; Element A′ is the element A other than Ba; Element B′ is the element B other than Yb; and Element C′ is the element C other than In. The n-type thermoelectric material contains five or more kinds in total of the element A to the element D.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An n-type thermoelectric material comprising the following constitutions (1) to (2):
(1) the n-type thermoelectric material having a composition represented by the formula (X) below:
(A a B b C c D t )Co 4-y Fe y Sb 12   (X)

wherein 0≦a≦0.5, 0≦b≦0.7, 0<c≦0.5, 0≦t≦0.1,
a+b+c+t=x, 0.4≦x≦1.0, 0≦y≦0.5, a+b>0,
the element A (filling element A) is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba,
the element B (filling element B) is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Y, Sc and La to Lu,
the element C (filling element C) is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In,
the element D (filling element D) is Zn and/or Ti, and
the A a B b C c D t (=R x ) satisfying formula (Y) below:
R x =[Ba d A′ 1-d ] a [Yb e B′ 1-e ] b [In f C′ 1-f ] c D t   (Y)

wherein 0<d≦1, 0≦e≦1, 0<f≦1, ad+be>0,
the element A′ is the filling element A other than Ba,
the element B′ is the filling element B other than Yb, and
the element C′ is the filling element C other than In; and

(2) the n-type thermoelectric material containing five or more kinds in total of the filling elements A to D.

2. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which contains two or more kinds of filling elements selected from the group consisting of the element A, the element B and the element C.

3. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which further satisfies 0<b≦0.6 and 0.1≦be≦0.5.

4. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 ,
wherein b=0, a>0, c>0, ad>0, and cf>0 are further satisfied,
the element A′ contains Ca and/or Sr, and
the element C′ contains Al and/or Ga.

5. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which further satisfies 0.2≦b≦0.3 and e>0, and contains one or more element as the element B′.

6. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which further satisfies 0.3<b≦0.6 and e>0, and contains two or more kinds of elements as the element B′.

7. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which further satisfies 0<a≦0.4.

8. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which further satisfies 0.3≦a<0.4 and 0.1≦ad≦0.2, and contains Ca and Sr as the element A′.

9. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which further satisfies a=0.4, b>0, c>0 and 0.1≦ad≦0.2, and contains Ca and Sr as the element A′.

10. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which further satisfies 0.1≦c≦0.4.

11. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 ,
wherein 0.2≦c≦0.4 is further satisfied,
C=In f Ga g Al 1-f-g , and
0<cg≦0.2 and 0≦(1−f−g) are satisfied.

12. An n-type thermoelectric material comprising the following constitutions (1′) to (2′):
(1′) the n-type thermoelectric material having a composition represented by formula (X′) below:
(A a B b C c D t )Co 4-y Fe y Sb 12   (X′)

wherein 0.1≦a≦0.3, 0.1≦b≦0.6, 0.1≦c≦0.4, 0≦t≦0.1,
a+b+c+t=x, 0.5≦x≦1.0, 0≦y≦0.4,
the element A (the filling element A) is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Ca, Sr and Ba,
the element B (the filling element B) is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Y, Sc and La to Lu,
the element C (the filling element C) is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In,
the element D (the filling element D) is Zn and/or Ti, and
the A a B b C c D t (=R x ) satisfying formula (Y′) below:
R x =[Ba d A′ 1-d ] a [Yb e B′ 1-e ] b [In f Ga g Al 1-f-g ] c D t   (Y′)

wherein 0.1≦ad≦0.2, 0.1≦be≦0.3,
0<f<1, 0≦cg≦0.15, f+g≦1,
the element A′ is the filling element A other than Ba, and
the element B′ is the filling element B other than Yb; and

(2′) the n-type thermoelectric material containing six or more kinds in total of the filling elements A to D.

13. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 12 , which further satisfies 0.7≦x<0.9 and 0≦y≦0.35.

14. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 12 , which further satisfies 0.9≦x and 0≦y≦0.4, and contains seven or more kinds in total of the filling elements A to D.

15. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 12 , which further satisfies 0.1≦a≦0.2, 0.2≦b≦0.5 and 0.2≦c≦0.4, and contains at least Ba, Yb, Eu, La, In and Ga as the filling elements A to D, and further contains Al if necessary.

16. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 1 , which has a dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) value of 1.3 or higher at 823 K.

17. The n-type thermoelectric material according to claim 12 , which has a dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) value of 1.3 or higher at 823 K.

Assignees

• Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho Kk

Inventors

• Matsubara Masato
• Asahi Ryoji

Classifications

• C22C12/00 Primary

  Alloys based on antimony or bismuth · CPC title

• C22C19/07

  based on cobalt · CPC title

• B22F2998/10

  Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps · CPC title

• H01L35/34 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/18

  Electricity · mapped topic