SBIR Phase II: Development and manufacture of a new class of high-figure-of-merit bulk thermoelectric nanomaterials

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在实现可扩展的自下而上微波合成工艺的商业化，该工艺被发明和证明用于获得批量热电纳米材料，其ZT值比现有技术高25%，成本节省50%。我们预计该项目的结果将扩大范围，并改变，高效热电制冷和废热收集技术。特别是，该项目旨在将我们的合成方法转变为一种制造技术，该技术可持续生产具有ZT 1的吨级纳米热电体。目标是1）完成设计，并实施一个10吨/年的微波制造平台，2）开发用于制造器件的纳米材料的工业规模晶圆生产协议，以及3）设计通过工艺优化进一步提高ZT的方法。在第一阶段展示的公斤级生产示范中产生的专有技术为第二阶段的工作奠定了基础。我们将重点介绍广泛使用的铋和碲化锑及其合金。我们将努力最大限度地提高工艺灵活性，以通过工艺优化促进更大的ZT收益，并促进我们的工艺技术适应其他热电纳米材料用于制冷和废热收集。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是释放和利用热电技术的数十亿美元潜力，以改变固态冷却。热电材料已经支持了每年约10亿美元的行业，但如果通过使用纳米材料将转换效率提高两倍，则有望提高数倍。该项目将扩大纳米材料制造技术的规模，旨在创造新的高效固态冷却设备，以取代目前基于环境不友好气体的制冷和空调技术，并利用余热创造高效发电机，显着扩大热电市场，影响全球能源使用并解决全球环境问题。该项目中所做的工作将导致低成本高价值的热电纳米材料制造，以取代现有的能源密集型方法，这些方法无法以成本效益高的方式生产高效材料。这将导致引入一类新的纳米材料，其具有比目前市场上可用的纳米材料更优越的上级性能。这项工作将扩大热电器件的应用范围，通过实施我们用于其他材料系统的制造方法为发电技术铺平道路。该项目预计将在3-5年内创造10-25个就业机会，并使纽约州成为热电创新和纳米材料制造的全球参与者。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to enable the commercialization of a scalable bottom-up microwave synthesis process invented and demonstrated for obtaining bulk thermoelectric nanomaterials with 25% higher figure-of-merit ZT at 50% cost savings than the state of the art. We anticipate the results of the project to expand the scope of, and transform, high efficiency thermoelectric refrigeration and waste-heat harvesting technologies. In particular, this project aims to transmute our synthesis approach to a manufacturing technology that consistently yields ton-scale nanothermoelectrics with ZT1. The objectives are to 1) Complete the design of, and implement a microwave manufacturing platform with a 10 tons/year capacity, 2) Develop protocols for industrial-scale wafer production from the nanomaterials for device fabrication, and 3) Devise methods to further increase ZT through process optimization. The knowhow generated from the demonstration of kilogram-scale production shown in Phase I provides the foundation for the Phase II effort. We will focus on the widely used bismuth and antimony tellurides, and their alloys. We will strive to maximize process flexibility to facilitate greater ZT gains through process optimization and to facilitate the adaptation of our process technology to other thermoelectric nanomaterials for refrigeration and waste-heat harvesting. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to unlock and access the multi-billion dollar potential of thermoelectrics for transforming solid-state cooling. Thermoelectric materials already support a ~$1B/year industry, but has promise to be multi-fold higher if the conversion efficiency is increased just two-fold by using nanomaterials. The project will scale-up a nanomaterials manufacturing technology targeted to create new high efficiency solid-state cooling devices that can replace the current refrigeration and air-conditioning technologies based on environmentally unfriendly gases, and create high-efficiency electricity generators from waste heat, significantly expanding the thermoelectric markets and impacting global energy usage and addressing global environmental concerns. The work performed in the project will result in low-cost high-value thermoelectric nanomaterials manufacturing to replace extant energy-intensive methods that cannot cost-effectively produce high-efficiency materials. This will lead to introduction of a new class of nanomaterials with superior properties than that available currently in the marketplace. The work will expand the scope of thermoelectric device applications, paving the way for power generation technologies through implementation of our manufacturing method for other materials systems. The project is anticipated to create 10-25 jobs in 3-5 years besides making New York State a global player in thermoelectrics innovation and nanomaterials manufacturing.