Oxide thermoelectric materials demonstrate magnetic field tuneability of thermal transport properties

The IIT Patna team demonstrated magnetic field tuneability of thermal transport properties in oxide thermoelectric (TE) materials. Increased energy consumption and limited availability of energy resources coupled with their inefficient use motivates the search for alternative energy conversion technologies. TE materials capable of converting waste heat into useful electric power are a potential candidate to be used in energy harvesting applications. The best available TE materials such as Bi2Te3 have limitations related to chemical and thermal stability at higher temperatures and open environment. Oxide materials with chemical and thermal robustness are promising for TE application in harsh environments, however, they are limited by their poor conversion efficiencies. The research in the Sustainable Functional Materials (SFM) group in the Department of Physics at IIT Patna is looking at ways to enhance the efficiency of waste heat to energy conversion in a class of oxide systems belonging to the Perovskite and the Aurivillius phase families. The demonstration of magnetic field tuneability of thermal transport properties in these materials opens up possibilities for new ways to control heat transfer. The lead author of this work, Mr. Ashutosh Kumar has very recently submitted his PhD thesis. Future efforts are underway to implement the know-how to real world applications. The links to the related published work is provided below:

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2053-1591/aad44c/meta
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925838818312246?via%3Dihub
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925838817341166?via%3Dihub
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.5032946

Please visit http://www.iitp.ac.in/~ajay.thakur for further details.