Innovative thermoelectric devices based on heavy fermion systems

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18609
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 13:Condensed matter physics and related fields
• Research Institution: Toyota Technological Institute
• Principal Investigator: Matsunami Masaharu 豊田工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (30415301)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 重い電子系 / 熱電材料

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The heavy-fermion systems have been expected as a candidate material for next generation high performance thermoelectric devices. In this study, we focused on YbB6 and have investigated the thermoelectric properties of its single crystals at several compositions of B/Yb to verify their tuning availability. As a result, we observed a large Seebeck coefficient in the n-type composition, leading to the very high power factor comparable to that of the Bi-Te systems, one of the typical thermoelectric materials. These results provide important insights for the application of next-generation thermoelectric devices based on these systems.

Free Research Field

固体物理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

重い電子系は高い熱電出力因子が得られるにも拘わらず熱伝導度の低減が困難なために熱電材料としての実用化は進んでいない．本研究はこれに対する逆転の発想として熱伝導度が影響しない熱電デバイスに重い電子系の熱電特性を最適化することにより新しい熱電デバイスの創製を目指したものである．本研究で作製した単結晶試料は既存の材料に匹敵する熱電性能を示しており，この方向性で研究がさらに発展すれば革新的な熱電デバイスの開発につながることが期待できる．