Natural-superlattice-structured thermoelectric material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9847469-B2
Application number	US-201414779784-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2014
Priority date	Mar 25, 2013
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

Provided is a thermoelectric material satisfying (MX) 1+a (TX 2 ) n and having a superlattice structure, wherein M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Group 13, Group 14, and Group 15, T is at least one element selected from Group 5, X is a chalcogenide element, a is a real number satisfying 0<a<1, and n is a natural number of 1 to 3.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A thermoelectric material satisfying Chemical Formula 1 below and having a superlattice structure:
(MX) 1+a (TX 2 ) n   Chemical Formula 1

in Chemical Formula 1 above,
M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Group 13, Group 14, and Group 15, T is at least one element selected from transition metals, X is a chalcogenide element, a is a real number satisfying 0≦a≦1, and n is a natural number of 1 to 3.

2. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the a is a real number satisfying 0.07≦a≦0.23.

3. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the superlattice structure is formed by alternately stacking (MX) 1+a layers and TX 2 layers (the number of TX 2 layers is n).

4. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the superlattice structure is naturally formed by applying energy to a mixture containing M, X, and T each weighted so as to satisfy Chemical Formula 1 above.

5. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein in Chemical Formula 1 above, X is at least one selected from the group consisting of S, Se and Te.

6. The thermoelectric material of claim 5 , wherein in Chemical Formula 1 above, M is at least one selected from the group consisting of Bi, Pb, Sn and Sb.

7. The thermoelectric material of claim 6 , wherein in Chemical Formula 1 above, T is at least one element selected from Group 5.

8. The thermoelectric material of claim 7 , wherein in Chemical Formula 1 above, T is at least one selected from the group consisting of V, Ta, and Nb.

9. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric material is in a bulk form.

10. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) in a cross-plane direction to a thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) in an in-plane direction at 570K is 0.25 or more.

11. The thermoelectric material of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric material further includes doping impurities.

Assignees

• Sk Innovation Co Ltd
• Univ-Industry Cooperation Group Of Kyung Hee Univ

Inventors

• Lee Hyeung Jin
• Cho Yong Rae
• Rhyee Jong-Soo
• Song Yoo Jang
• Kim Jin Hee

Classifications

• C04B2235/9607

  Thermal properties, e.g. thermal expansion coefficient · CPC title

• C04B2235/79

  Non-stoichiometric products, e.g. perovskites (ABO3) with an A/B-ratio other than 1 · CPC title

• C04B2235/76

  Crystal structural characteristics, e.g. symmetry · CPC title

• C04B2235/666

  Applying a current during sintering, e.g. plasma sintering [SPS], electrical resistance heating or pulse electric current sintering [PECS] · CPC title

• C04B2235/404

  Refractory metals · CPC title