TEGMATIC – ThermoElectric Generator Magnesium-based mATerials for application in Internet Connected devices.

热电材料能够将余热转化为电能。据预测，到2020年，将有大约200亿台联网设备。假设50%由电池供电，电池寿命为1年，这将创造每年额外50亿块电池的需求。因此，使用热电发电机为物联网设备供电变得非常有吸引力。此外，在一些行业，如石油天然气工业(OGI)，不建议使用锂电池，因为它们有爆炸风险，而且在80℃以上效率低下。因此，OGI正朝着热电能量收集在广泛的传感应用中取代电池的方向发展。热电材料市场由Bi3Te2主导，它具有最高的品质因数ZT高达200℃，因此它主要用于该范围内的废热回收。在此温度以上，其zT显著降低，因此变得极其低效。目前解决效率问题的解决方案是在中温下使用碲化铅(PbTe)或在500℃下使用硅锗(SiGe)。其他缺点是碲的毒性和稀缺性导致的高价格。因此，市场需要1)更有效的能量收集器，适用于中等温度(200-350摄氏度)的应用，非常适合石油和天然气工业的温度，以及2)在更小和更具成本效益的传感器应用设备中产生更多的能量。TEGMATIC将通过开发基于锑镁(Mg3Sb2)的材料及其商业化来满足这些需求。这种尖端材料提供：1)更高的效率，因为基于镁的材料的性能优于当前最先进的材料--在300-350℃时，镁Sb2的zT=1.4，而Bi3Te2的zT=0.2。此外，镁Sb材料的机械韧性(KIC=3.0 Mpa M1/2)显著高于最先进的材料。2)更小的空间和成本效益：镁Sb材料具有低导热系数，因此支腿长度将减少40%，每个模块的成本降低12-20%。此外，镁Sb的原材料成本比BIT便宜，估计为9.5-11美元/公斤。3)环保：镁和锑无毒，在地球上储量丰富。TEGMATIC是ETL和Avalon Sciences的合作伙伴。ETL是全球公认的热电市场创新中小企业领导者，目前供应全球约2%的热电模块，部分原因是其内部自动化制造。阿瓦隆科学公司(ASL)是一家井下地震设备制造商。

Thermoelectric materials are capable of converting waste heat into electricity. It is forecast that there will be ~20bn connected devices by 2020\. Postulating 50% are battery powered, with 1-year battery lifetime, this would create demand for an additional 5bn batteries/year. Thereby, the use of thermoelectric generators for powering IoT devices is becoming very attractive. In addition, the use of Li-batteries is not recommended in some industries such as Oil&Gas Industry (OGI) due to their risk of explosion and their inefficiency over 80C. Thereby, OGI is moving towards thermoelectric energy harvesting to replace batteries in a wide range of sensing applications.The thermoelectric materials market is dominated by Bismuth Telluride (Bi3Te2) which exhibits the greatest figure of merit, zT up to 200C leading to it mainly being used for waste heat recovery within this range. Above this temperature, its zT dramatically reduces therefore becoming prohibitively inefficient. The current solutions to address the efficiency is the use of lead telluride (PbTe) at medium temperatures or silicon-germanium (SiGe) for \>500C. Other disadvantages are the toxicity and the high price of Tellurium due to its scarcity.The market therefore requires the following1)more effective energy harvesters for applications at medium temperature (200-350C) ideal for the Oil&Gas Industry temperatures, and2)Generating more power in smaller and more cost-effective devices for sensor applications.TEGMATIC will address these needs by developing magnesium-antimonide (Mg3Sb2)-based materials and their commercialisation. This cutting-edge material offers:1)More efficiency, since MgSb-based materials outperforms the current state-of-the-art - Mg3Sb2 achieves a zT = 1.4, in comparison to 0.2 for Bi3Te2 at 300-350C. Also, MgSb-materials has significantly superior mechanical toughness (_KIC_ = 3.0 MPa\*m1/2) than the State-of-the-art.2)Less space and cost-effective: MgSb-based materials possess low thermal conductivity, so the leg length will be reduced by 40% decreasing the cost per module by 12-20%. Moreover, the raw material cost is cheaper for MgSb estimated at 9.5-11 $/Kg than BiTe 44.1 $/Kg.3)Environmentally friendly: Magnesium and Antimony are non-toxic and abundant in the Earth.TEGMATIC is a collaboration between ETL and Avalon Sciences. ETL, a worldwide recognised innovative SME leader in the thermoelectric market, currently supplying ~2% of the global thermoelectric modules due in part to their in-house automated manufacturing. Avalon Sciences (ASL) is a manufacturer of borehole seismic equipment.