SBIR Phase I: Development of High Efficiency Thermoelectric Materials for Sub 200K Space Applications

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将推动用于空间应用的最先进的低温热电设备，使先进的太空旅行成为可能，并改善卫星无线和全球移动互联网的可用性。随着工业对太空探索的兴趣增加，一个显著改进的低温热电模块可以在快速增长的热电模块市场中占据相当大的一部分，到2024年估计约为10亿美元。低温热电的显著改进也将为这些设备在其他低温热管理系统中的应用打开大门，在这些系统中，低温状态下运行的冷却技术效率低下一直是一个主要挑战。这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在使用先进的材料和新颖的模块设计理念来提高热电冷却模块的效率（ZT）。长期以来，具有外加磁场的铋锑（BiSb）基单晶材料一直被认为是100K以下应用中性能最高的材料，但由于各种挑战，它们尚未找到商业用途。研究工作旨在解决这些挑战，并开发p型和n型单晶铋基合金，在90 K时ZT为0.4，应用小于1特斯拉的磁场，这将使在100 K以下的效率比目前的技术水平提高四倍。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project will advance the state-of-the-art in low temperature thermoelectric devices for space applications enabling advanced space travel as well as improvements to satellite wireless and worldwide mobile internet availability. With the increased interest in space exploration from industrial efforts, a significantly improved low temperature thermoelectric module could capture a sizable portion of the rapidly growing thermoelectric module market which is estimated to be ~$1 Billion by 2024. Significantly improved low temperature thermoelectrics would also open the door for the use of these devices in other low temperature thermal management systems, where the poor efficiency of cooling technologies operating in the cryogenic regime have been a major challenge. This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project aims to improve the efficiency (ZT) of thermoelectric cooling modules using advanced materials and a novel module design concept. Bismuth-antimony (BiSb)-based single crystal materials with applied magnetic fields have long been known as the highest performance materials for sub 100K applications but they have not yet found commercial utility due to a variety of challenges. The research effort aims to address these challenges and develop both p-type and n-type single crystal BiSb based alloys with ZT 0.4 at 90 K and application of less than 1 Tesla magnetic field, which would be a four-fold improvement in efficiency at sub 100 K compared to current state of the art.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.