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E-Thesis 1196 views 598 downloads

Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications / Tom O. Dunlop

Swansea University Author: Tom O. Dunlop

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/Suthesis.51916

Abstract

With ever increasing energy costs, climate change and energy supply concerns there has been a drive towards sustainable and renewable energy sources. There are many industries which currently produce excess waste heat such as reactors, motorised transport, metal production, and gas turbines to name...

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Published: 2018
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: EngD
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa51916
first_indexed 2019-09-16T20:20:47Z
last_indexed 2025-04-05T03:57:53Z
id cronfa51916
recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2025-04-04T09:27:04.9526729 v2 51916 2019-09-16 Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications 2c5194f421c9fe645b6115c20f5cf9ad 0000-0002-5851-8713 Tom O. Dunlop Tom O. Dunlop true true 2019-09-16 With ever increasing energy costs, climate change and energy supply concerns there has been a drive towards sustainable and renewable energy sources. There are many industries which currently produce excess waste heat such as reactors, motorised transport, metal production, and gas turbines to name a few. These industries can reduce their carbon footprint with successful heat scavenging. A much-overlooked technology is thermoelectric generators. These are solid-state devices which can convert heat directly into electricity using the Seebeck effect. There are number of advantages of thermoelectrics over conventional renewables including no moving parts, maintenance-free functionality in extreme environments, high-temperature resistance and long-life span. Thermoelectrics can function as both primary generators or as thermal scavengers, however they are not yet suitable for mass market applications. This thesis will investigate the entire thermoelectric device and develop scalable alternatives to current technologies. In this the production of earth abundant thermoelectrics, focusing on transition metal silicides, was investigated using a novel pack cementation technique to produce high quality materials that are affordable and require only low-cost equipment to produce. This technique was shown to produce high purity materials; however, production rates were limited due to the diffusion rates. The second part of this thesis investigated the soldered contacts for device construction; as current soldered contacts are subject to fatigue, can be costly and at times toxic. Molten liquid electrical contacts were developed and whilst promising are limited by their compatibility with current thermoelectric materials. The most successful work was that of printable, conductive polymers. These were developed to be stable at high temperatures, bind well with current thermoelectric materials and provide a new contact material allowing fully automated production. To ascertain the viability of the developed conductive polymer contacts, further work was undertaken to prototype functional devices which led to promising results for future upscaling. E-Thesis Thermoelectrics, transition metal silicides, phase change salts 31 12 2018 2018-12-31 10.23889/Suthesis.51916 COLLEGE NANME Engineering COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Doctoral EngD Sêr Cymru National Research Network in Advanced Engineering and Materials EPSRC through COATED CDT M2A Not Required NRN072, EP/K503228/1 2025-04-04T09:27:04.9526729 2019-09-16T14:43:32.5116654 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering Tom O. Dunlop 0000-0002-5851-8713 1 0051916-16092019154936.pdf Dunlop_Tom_O_PhD_Thesis_Final_Embargoed01.10.2020_Redacted.pdf 2019-09-16T15:49:36.7000000 Output 14587552 application/pdf Redacted version - open access true 2020-10-01T00:00:00.0000000 true
title Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications
spellingShingle Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications
Tom O. Dunlop
title_short Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications
title_full Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications
title_fullStr Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications
title_full_unstemmed Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications
title_sort Production of Functional Materials for Advanced Thermoelectric Applications
author_id_str_mv 2c5194f421c9fe645b6115c20f5cf9ad
author_id_fullname_str_mv 2c5194f421c9fe645b6115c20f5cf9ad_***_Tom O. Dunlop
author Tom O. Dunlop
author2 Tom O. Dunlop
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2018
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/Suthesis.51916
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description With ever increasing energy costs, climate change and energy supply concerns there has been a drive towards sustainable and renewable energy sources. There are many industries which currently produce excess waste heat such as reactors, motorised transport, metal production, and gas turbines to name a few. These industries can reduce their carbon footprint with successful heat scavenging. A much-overlooked technology is thermoelectric generators. These are solid-state devices which can convert heat directly into electricity using the Seebeck effect. There are number of advantages of thermoelectrics over conventional renewables including no moving parts, maintenance-free functionality in extreme environments, high-temperature resistance and long-life span. Thermoelectrics can function as both primary generators or as thermal scavengers, however they are not yet suitable for mass market applications. This thesis will investigate the entire thermoelectric device and develop scalable alternatives to current technologies. In this the production of earth abundant thermoelectrics, focusing on transition metal silicides, was investigated using a novel pack cementation technique to produce high quality materials that are affordable and require only low-cost equipment to produce. This technique was shown to produce high purity materials; however, production rates were limited due to the diffusion rates. The second part of this thesis investigated the soldered contacts for device construction; as current soldered contacts are subject to fatigue, can be costly and at times toxic. Molten liquid electrical contacts were developed and whilst promising are limited by their compatibility with current thermoelectric materials. The most successful work was that of printable, conductive polymers. These were developed to be stable at high temperatures, bind well with current thermoelectric materials and provide a new contact material allowing fully automated production. To ascertain the viability of the developed conductive polymer contacts, further work was undertaken to prototype functional devices which led to promising results for future upscaling.
published_date 2018-12-31T04:42:20Z
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score 11.444473

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