Ultrathin MEMS thermoelectric generator with Bi2Te3/(Pt, Au) multilayers and Sb2Te3 legs

Yang Liu; Erzhen Mu; Zhenhua Wu; Zhanxun Che; Fangyuan Sun; Xuecheng Fu; Fengdan Wang; Xinwei Wang; Zhiyu Hu

doi:10.1186/s40580-020-0218-x

Ultrathin MEMS thermoelectric generator with Bi₂Te₃/(Pt, Au) multilayers and Sb₂Te₃ legs

Nano Converg. 2020 Mar 3;7(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s40580-020-0218-x.

Authors

Yang Liu^{1

2

3}, Erzhen Mu^{1

2

3}, Zhenhua Wu^{1

2

3}, Zhanxun Che⁴, Fangyuan Sun⁴, Xuecheng Fu⁵, Fengdan Wang⁵, Xinwei Wang⁶, Zhiyu Hu^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro-Nano Fabrication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
² Institute of Nano-Micro Energy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
³ Department of Micro-Nano Electronics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁴ Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
⁵ Center for Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices (AEMD) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁶ College of Pipeline and Civil Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China.
⁷ National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro-Nano Fabrication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. zhiyuhu@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁸ Institute of Nano-Micro Energy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. zhiyuhu@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁹ Department of Micro-Nano Electronics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. zhiyuhu@sjtu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Multilayer structure is one of the research focuses of thermoelectric (TE) material in recent years. In this work, n-type 800 nm Bi₂Te₃/(Pt, Au) multilayers are designed with p-type Sb₂Te₃ legs to fabricate ultrathin microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) TE devices. The power factor of the annealed Bi₂Te₃/Pt multilayer reaches 46.5 μW cm^-1 K^-2 at 303 K, which corresponds to more than a 350% enhancement when compared to pristine Bi₂Te₃. The annealed Bi₂Te₃/Au multilayers have a lower power factor than pristine Bi₂Te₃. The power of the device with Sb₂Te₃ and Bi₂Te₃/Pt multilayers measures 20.9 nW at 463 K and the calculated maximum output power reaches 10.5 nW, which is 39.5% higher than the device based on Sb₂Te₃ and Bi₂Te₃, and 96.7% higher than the Sb₂Te₃ and Bi₂Te₃/Au multilayers one. This work can provide an opportunity to improve TE properties by using multilayer structures and novel ultrathin MEMS TE devices in a wide variety of applications.

Keywords: Bi2Te3; MEMS; Multilayers; TE devices.

Grants and funding

51776126/National Natural Science Foundation of China