Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Neutron-irradiated effect on the thermoelectric properties of Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric leg

  • Huanyu Zhao (Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) ;
  • Kai Liu (State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University) ;
  • Zhiheng Xu (Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) ;
  • Yunpeng Liu (Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) ;
  • Xiaobin Tang (Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics)
  • Received : 2022.10.14
  • Accepted : 2023.04.25
  • Published : 2023.08.25
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Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) materials working in radioisotope thermoelectric generators are irradiated by neutrons throughout its service; thus, investigating the neutron irradiation stability of TE devices is necessary. Herein, the influence of neutron irradiation with fluences of 4.56 × 1010 and 1 × 1013 n/cm2 by pulsed neutron reactor on the electrical and thermal transport properties of n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 and p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 thermoelectric alloys prepared by cold-pressing and molding is investigated. After neutron irradiation, the properties of thermoelectric materials fluctuate, which is related to the material type and irradiation fluence. Different from p-type thermoelectric materials, neutron irradiation has a positive effect on n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 materials. This result might be due to the increase of carrier mobility and the optimization of electrical conductivity. Afterward, the effects of p-type and n-type TE devices with different treatments on the output performance of TE devices are further discussed. The positive and negative effects caused by irradiation can cancel each other to a certain extent. For TE devices paired with p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 thermoelectric legs, the generated power and conversion efficiency are stable after neutron irradiation.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology Foreign Expert Project (Grant No. G2022181007L), the Shanghai Aerospace Science and Technology Innovation Project (Grant No. SAST2020-097), and the Excellent Postdoctoral Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. 2022ZB235).

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