Thermoelectric conversion material and method of producing the same
AssigneeSumitomo Special Metals Co., Ltd.
InventorsNobuhiro Sadatomi, Osamu Yamashita, Tsunekazu Saigo, Masao Noumi
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Abstract
A thermoelectric conversion material is formed of a polycrystal structure of crystal grains composed of a silicon-rich phase, and an added element-rich phase in which at least one type of added element is deposited at the grain boundary thereof, the result of which is an extremely large Seebeck coefficient and low thermal conductivity, allowing the thermoelectric conversion rate to be raised dramatically, and affording a silicon-based thermoelectric conversion material composed chiefly of silicon, which is an abundant resource, and which causes extremely low environmental pollution.
Claims22
A thermoelectric conversion material having a polycrystal structure in which at least one added element is contained in an amount of 0.001 to 5 at % in silicon, and at least one said added element is deposited at boundaries between crystal grains formed of virtually all silicon.
A thermoelectric conversion material having a polycrystal structure in which at least one dopant that generates carriers is contained in an amount of 0.001 to 5 at % in silicon, and at least one said dopant is deposited at boundaries between crystal grains formed of virtually all silicon.
A thermoelectric conversion material having a polycrystal structure in which at least one dopant that generates carriers is contained in an amount of 0.0001 to 5 at % and at least one added element that does not generate carriers is contained in an amount of 0.1 to 10 at % silicon, and at least one of said added elements is deposited at boundaries between crystal grains in which virtually all silicon.
A thermoelectric conversion material having a polycrystal structure in which at least one added element that does not generate carriers is carriers is contained in an amount of 0.1 to 5 at % and at least one dopant that generates carriers is contained in an amounts of 0.001 to 5 at % in silicon, and at least one said added element is crystal grains formed of virtually all silicon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.