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

这一小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将推动空间应用低温热电设备的最新发展，从而实现先进的太空旅行，并改善卫星无线和全球移动的互联网可用性。 随着工业界对太空探索的兴趣越来越大，一种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份额，预计到2024年将达到约10亿美元。 显著改进的低温热电器件还将为在其他低温热管理系统中使用这些设备打开大门，在这些系统中，在低温状态下操作的冷却技术的低效率一直是一个主要挑战。 该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在使用先进材料和新颖的模块设计概念来提高热电冷却模块的效率（ZT）。 具有外加磁场的铋锑（BiSb）基单晶材料长期以来被认为是100 K以下应用的最高性能材料，但由于各种挑战，它们尚未发现商业用途。 研究工作旨在解决这些挑战，并开发p型和n型单晶BiSb基合金，在90 K下ZT 0.4，应用小于1特斯拉的磁场，也就是四个与当前最先进的技术相比，在低于100 K时的效率提高了一倍。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响评审标准。

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.