Thermoelectric materials are playing a larger role in the global effort to
develop diverse, efficient, and sustainable energy technologies: primarily through
power-generating thermoelectric modules. The principal components of
thermoelectric modules are solid-state thermoelectric materials – typically heavily
doped semiconductors – that convert heat directly into electricity. However, this
conversion efficiency is too low to supplant traditional energy technologies – severely
limiting the distribution of clean and sustainable thermoelectric energy technologies.
Efforts to enhance thermoelectric efficiency, which have been underway for decades,
have been slow to realize appreciable gains in thermoelectric efficiency. However, a
key advance in improving efficiency – the New Paradigm in thermoelectric material
research – has been the development of thermoelectric nanocomposites.
Thermoelectric nanocomposites show improved efficiency; however, they are often
synthesized from highly toxic elements via energetically intense and costly synthesis
procedures. Therefore, this research focuses on the discovery and development of a
novel procedure for synthesizing thermoelectric nanocomposites – attrition enhanced
nanocomposite synthesis – from open cage-like skutterudite-based materials. With
further optimization, high-performance power-generating thermoelectric materials can
be produced via this technique. Therefore, attrition-enhanced nanocomposite
synthesis may play a small, though instrumental, role in achieving sustainable
electrical power. / Graduation date: 2012 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Jan. 6, 2012 - Jan. 6, 2013
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/26527 |
| Date | 06 January 2013 |
| Creators | Eilertsen, James S. |
| Contributors | Subramanian, Munirpallam A. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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