Design and search for frontier thermoelectric materials by

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23760647
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Inorganic materials/Physical properties
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo (2013-2014); The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (2011-2012)
• Principal Investigator: KATSURA Yukari 東京大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 研究員 (00553760)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 熱電変換 / 第一原理計算 / 電子構造 / 熱伝導率 / 輸送特性 / 新物質探索

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Because of their ability to convert temperature difference and electricity, thermoelectric materials are used as cooling or power-generation devices. However, substutute materials are under search, because of the toxicity and rareness of the constituent elements of the current thermoelectric materials. In this study, we developed calculation methods to evaluate if the electronic structure and the phonon structure of the material are promising enough to satisfy the target values for conversion efficiency and thermal resistivity. We carried out such calculations over 500 compounds, to reveal the characteristics of compounds with high efficiency and high thermal resistivity. Some compounds found during the study were synthesized and evaluated. We found that MgSrSi-type compounds and tin sulfides inckuding SnS and Sn2S3 are promising candidate thermoelectric materials with extremely low thermal conductivity.

Free Research Field

物性物理