Thermoelectric materials
AssigneeThe Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma
InventorPatrick John McCann
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Abstract
A thermoelectric material having a high ZT value is provided. In general, the thermoelectric material is a thin film thermoelectric material that includes a heterostructure formed of IV-VI semiconductor materials, where the heterostructure includes at least one potential barrier layer. In one embodiment, the heterostructure is formed of IV-VI semiconductor materials and includes a first matrix material layer, a potential barrier material layer adjacent to the first matrix material layer and formed of a wide bandgap material, and a second matrix material layer that is adjacent the potential barrier material layer opposite the first matrix material layer. A thickness of the potential barrier layer is approximately equal to a mean free path distance for charge carriers at a desired temperature.
Claims31
A thermoelectric material comprising:
- a first matrix material layer formed of a IV-VI semiconductor material;
- a potential barrier material layer adjacent to the first matrix material layer and formed of a wide bandgap IV-VI semiconductor material, the potential barrier material layer having a thickness that is approximately equal to a mean free path of charge carriers between scattering events for a desired temperature;
- and
- a second matrix material layer adjacent to the potential barrier material layer opposite the first matrix material layer and formed of the IV-VI semiconductor material.
A thermoelectric material comprising:
- an initial matrix material layer;
- and
- an alternating series of a plurality of potential barrier material layers formed of a wide bandgap semiconductor material and a plurality of matrix material layers formed of a semiconductor material;
- wherein for each potential barrier material layer of the plurality of potential barrier material layers, a thickness of the potential barrier material layer is approximately equal to a mean free path for charge carriers at a corresponding temperature in a temperature gradient for the thermoelectric material.
A thermoelectric material comprising:
- a heterostructure comprising one or more matrix material layers formed of a semiconductor material and one or more potential barrier material layers formed of a wide bandgap semiconductor material;
- wherein a Fermi energy of the thermoelectric material is at or near a barrier height of the one or more potential barrier material layers.
A thermoelectric material comprising:
- an initial matrix material layer;
- and
- an alternating series of one or more potential barrier material layers formed of a wide bandgap semiconductor material and one or more matrix material layers formed of a semiconductor material;
- wherein, for each matrix material layer of at least a subset of the one or more matrix material layers, a thickness of the matrix material layer is greater than or equal to three times a thickness of one of the one or more potential barrier material layers immediately preceding the matrix material layer in the alternating series of the one or more potential barrier material layers and the one or more matrix material layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.