caa a22 4500 463227131 CHVBK 20180405153230.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170326e20070501xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10853-006-1410-z doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10853-006-1410-z Enhancement of the generating power in Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composite thermoelectric devices [Elektronische Daten] [Osamu Yamashita, Hirotaka Odahara] The voltage ΔV and electric current ΔI of the p- and n-type Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composite thermoelectric devices were measured as a function of ΔT for four regions of the intrinsic Bi-Te compound, Cu/Bi-Te and Bi-Te/Cu interfaces and Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composite using thermocouples set at intervals of s=2 and 6mm, where the lengths of Bi-Te compound and copper are 4 and 5mm, respectively. ΔV and ΔI of all regions tended to increase linearly with an increase of ΔT. The resultant α was obtained from the relation ΔV/ΔT. The resultant α values of regions including the interface are much higher in absolute value than those of the intrinsic Bi-Te compounds, so that the barrier thermo-emf is found to occur in the forward-bias direction. It indicates that the barrier thermo-emf appears even in the semiconductor-metal junction, as in the case of the p-n junctions. The resultant α of Cu(T H)/Bi-Te interface rich in the heat flow increases with an increase of ΔT, while that of Bi-Te/Cu(T C ) interface poor in the heat flow decreases with an increase of ΔT. The ΔT-dependence of α of the interfaces is entirely opposite at the hot and cold sides. As a result, the resultant α of the p- and n-type Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composites remained little varied with changes of ΔT, so that the present composites have a thermal stability superior to the intrinsic Bi-Te compounds.The generating powers ΔW Bi-Te and ΔW Cu/Bi-Te/Cu for the p- and n-type intrinsic Bi-Te compounds and Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composites increased parabolalically with an increase of ΔT, and the ratios of ΔW Cu/Bi-Te/Cu to ΔW Bi-Te reached great values of 1.41 and 1.45 for the p- and n-type composites, respectively. It was thus found that the enhancement in the resultant α of the composite materials results in a significant improvement in the conversion efficiency for generators. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2007 Yamashita Osamu Faculty of Engineering, Ehime University, Bunkyocho, 790-8577, Matsuyama, Japan aut Odahara Hirotaka Faculty of Engineering, Ehime University, Bunkyocho, 790-8577, Matsuyama, Japan aut Journal of Materials Science Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 42/10(2007-05-01), 3520-3528 0022-2461 42:10<3520 2007 42 10853 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-006-1410-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-006-1410-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Yamashita Osamu Faculty of Engineering, Ehime University, Bunkyocho, 790-8577, Matsuyama, Japan aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Odahara Hirotaka Faculty of Engineering, Ehime University, Bunkyocho, 790-8577, Matsuyama, Japan aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Materials Science Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 42/10(2007-05-01), 3520-3528 0022-2461 42:10<3520 2007 42 10853 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer