# US 2014/0191435 A1 · Nanocomposites with high thermoelectric figures of merit

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- Number: US 2014/0191435 A1
- Document ID: US20140191435A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/623,459
- Filed: 2012-09-20
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2004-10-29
- Assignees: The Trustees of Boston College; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Inventors: Gang Chen; Mildred Dresselhaus; Zhifeng Ren
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140191435A1

## CPC

- B29C 43/36: Moulds for making articles of definite length, i.e. discrete articles
- H10N 10/852: comprising tellurium, selenium or sulfur
- H10N 10/8556: {comprising compounds containing germanium or silicon}
- Y10S 257/00: Active solid-state devices, e.g. transistors, solid-state diodes
- Y10T 428/2938: Coating on discrete and individual rods, strands or filaments
- B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00)
- H10N: ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10T: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION

## Abstract

The present invention is generally directed to nanocomposite thermoelectric materials that exhibit enhanced thermoelectric properties. The nanocomposite materials include two or more components, with at least one of the components forming nano-sized structures within the composite material. The components are chosen such that thermal conductivity of the composite is decreased without substantially diminishing the composite's electrical conductivity. Suitable component materials exhibit similar electronic band structures. For example, a band-edge gap between at least one of a conduction band or a valence band of one component material and a corresponding band of the other component material at interfaces between the components can be less than about 5 kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition.

## Claims

### Claim at position 1

1-13. (canceled)

### Claim 14

A method of synthesizing a thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising
generating a powder mixture comprising two or more sets of nano-sized semiconductor structures, and
applying a compressive pressure to said mixture while heating the mixture to a selected temperature for a time duration selected to cause compaction of said sets of nano-sized structures into the thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition having a matrix with nano-sized inclusions.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein said compressive pressure is in a range of about 10 to about 1000 MPa.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein said nano-sized structures are semiconductor nanoparticles and the semiconductor nanoparticles of one set have a different composition from the semiconductor nanoparticles of another set.

### Claim 17 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the nano-sized inclusions have a size of 1-300 nm.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the nano-sized inclusions have a size of 1.100 nm.

### Claim 19

A method of synthesizing a thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising
generating a powder mixture comprising two or more sets of nano-sized semiconductor structures, and
applying a compressive pressure to said mixture while heating the mixture to a selected temperature for a time duration selected to cause compaction of said sets of nano-sized structures into the thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition,
wherein said compressive pressure and said time duration are selected to substantially inhibit formation of a homogenous alloy composed of materials forming said nano-sized structures while facilitating formation of the nanocomposite semiconductor composition.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19, wherein said compressive pressure is in a range of about 10 to about 1000 MPa.

### Claim 21 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19, wherein said nano-sized structures are semiconductor nanoparticles and the semiconductor nanoparticles of one set have a different composition from the semiconductor nanoparticles of another set.

### Claim 22

A method of generating a thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:
generating a powder mixture comprising at least two sets of nanoparticles, wherein at least one set is formed of a host semiconductor material and at least another set is formed of an inclusion semiconductor material, and
applying a compressive pressure to said mixture while heating the mixture to a selected temperature so as to cause compaction of said mixture into the thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition having said inclusion nanoparticles distributed in a host matrix formed of said host semiconductor material, wherein said inclusion particles in the nanocomposite are nano-sized.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein said compressive pressure is in a range of about 10 to about 1000 MPa.

### Claim 24 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein the host semiconductor material is different from the inclusion semiconductor material.

### Claim 25 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein the nano-sized inclusion particles have a size of 1-300 nm.

### Claim 26 (depends on 25)

The method of claim 25, wherein the nano-sized inclusion particles have a size of 1-100 nm.