From the Indian Copper Belts to Chulhas: Affordable Thermoelectric Materials for Rural India

据估计，印度有8.4亿人使用以木头或生物质为动力的固体燃料炉灶(Chulha)。这些都是非常低效的，会产生对健康和环境有害的排放。Chulas排放有害污染物和颗粒物，导致呼吸系统疾病，包括慢性阻塞性肺疾病和肺癌。印度是暴露在高水平室内空气污染(IAP)中的人数最多的国家，这主要是由固体燃料炉灶造成的。仅在2017年，印度就有48.2万人死于IAP，是全球可归因于IAP的死亡人数最多的国家。炉子的工作温度高达600摄氏度。C，提供现成的余热供应。热电(TE)装置能够将这些废热转化为有用的电能，为辅助风扇提供本地电源，以改善炉子内的燃烧，使其更清洁、更安全、更高效，并减轻IAP的影响。印度农村地区约有1亿人用不上电。尚未实现电气化的地区属于比较偏远的地区，离网发电是必不可少的。TE设备还将提供足够的电力，以满足照明、通信和移动设备充电的基本需求。因此，在Chulha中添加TE设备将提供更清洁的烹饪环境，同时提供本地电力供应，对农村社区的健康和福祉产生重大影响。与烹饪炉子一起使用的TE发电机的核心是开发负担得起、可持续和优化到工作温度(&lt；600℃)的材料。C)炉子的颜色。商业上可买到的碲化铋模块已经证明了原理。然而，碲是稀缺的，而碲化铋和相应的模块很昂贵。在这个项目中，我们寻求开发满足性能和成本标准的材料，以优化传统烹饪炉具的使用。特别是，我们将创造从黄铜矿、斑铜矿和辉铜矿等矿物中提取的发电用新的硫化物TE材料，印度可以获得印度铜带潜在的廉价和丰富的储量，包括Khetri、Singhbuhum和Malanjkhan铜带。通过这种方式，该项目力求利用印度的自然资源来解决一个影响到人口中相当数量的最弱势群体的问题。该项目将受益于英国和印度三个领先的TE实验室的计算和实验专业知识。通过应用各种材料设计策略和合成方法，我们寻求创造新的高性能n型和p型半导体，这些半导体可以集成到200&lt；T/deg温度范围内用于发电的TE设备中。C&lt；400，利用烹饪炉子的余热。

An estimated 840 million people in India use a solid-fuel cookstove (chulha) powered off wood or biomass. These are very inefficient and produce emissions harmful to health and the environment. Chulhas emit harmful pollutants and particulates that contribute to respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. India has the largest number of people exposed to high levels of indoor air pollution (IAP), which is primarily caused by solid-fuel cookstoves. IAP was responsible for 482,000 deaths in India in 2017 alone, the largest number of deaths attributable to IAP worldwide. The cooking stoves operate at temperatures up to 600 deg. C, providing a ready supply of waste heat. A thermoelectric (TE) device is capable of converting this waste heat into useful electricity, providing a localised power source to power an auxiliary fan to improve combustion in the stove, making them cleaner, safer and more efficient and mitigating the effects of IAP. Approximately 100 million people in rural areas of India have no access to electricity. The areas which electrification has not reached are among the more remote, where off-grid electricity generation is essential. A TE device would also provide sufficient electrical power to fulfill basic needs in lighting, communication and mobile device charging. Addition of a TE device to a chulha would therefore provide a cleaner cooking environment whilst simultaneously delivering a localised electricity supply delivering a major impact on the health and well-being of rural communities.Central to the creation of a TE generator for use with a cooking stove is the development of materials that are affordable, sustainable and optimised to the working temperature (< 600 deg. C) of the stove. Proof of principle has been demonstrated with commercially-available bismuth telluride modules. However tellurium is scarce and bismuth telluride and the corresponding modules expensive. In this project we seek to develop materials that meet the criteria of performance and cost that are optimised for use in the traditional cooking stoves. In particular, we will create new sulphide TE materials for electricity generation that are derived from minerals such as chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite, to which India has access to potentially cheap and abundant reserves in the Indian copper belts, including the Khetri, Singhbuhum, and Malanjkhand copper belts. In this way the project seeks to apply the natural resources of India to the solution of a problem affecting a substantial number of the most disadvantaged sector of the population. The project will benefit from the combined computational and experimental expertise of three leading TE laboratories in the UK and India. By applying a variety of materials design strategies and synthetic approaches, we seek to create new high performance n- and p-type semiconductors that can be incorporated into a TE device for electrical power generation in the temperature range 200 < T/deg. C < 400, using the waste heat from a cooking stove.