A thermoelectric material includes a lower part from a bottom surface of the thermoelectric material to a point of 30% of an average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 40 at% or more in the thermoelectric material, and an upper part corresponding to a remaining 70% of the average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 20 at% or less in the thermoelectric material.

An electrically-powered device, structure and/or component is provided that includes an attached autonomous electrical power source in a form of a unique, environmentally-friendly structure that is configured to transform thermal energy at any temperature above absolute zero to an electric potential without any external stimulus including physical movement or deformation energy. The autonomous electrical power source component provides a mechanism for generating renewable energy, or a renewable energy supplement, as primary or auxiliary power for the electrically-powered device, structure and/or component. The autonomous electrical power source component is formed of one or more elements, each of which includes a first conductor having a surface with a comparatively low work function, a second conductor having a surface with the comparatively high work function and a dielectric layer on a scale of 200 nm or less interposed between the conductors.

A thermoelectric conversion module may include a plurality of n type thermoelectric conversion materials and a plurality of p type thermoelectric conversion materials that are disposed alternately, and a plurality of electrodes that connects the plurality of thermoelectric conversion material disposed alternately on one side and on an opposite side alternately, wherein the plurality of electrodes includes a first electrode configured to electrically connect the n type thermoelectric conversion material and the p type thermoelectric conversion material by penetrating the n type thermoelectric conversion material and the p type thermoelectric conversion material to transfer heat obtained from a heat source to the plurality of thermoelectric conversion materials.

Composite materials with thermoelectric properties and devices made from such materials are described. The thermoelectric composite material may comprise a metal oxide material and graphene or modified graphene. It has been found that the addition of graphene or modified graphene to thermoelectric metal oxide materials increases ZT. It has further been found that the ZT of the metal oxide becomes effective over a broader temperature range and at lower temperatures.

A thermoelectric generator includes a perovskite dielectric substrate containing Sr and Ti and having electric conductivity by being doped to n-type; an energy filter formed on a top surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate, the energy filter including a first perovskite dielectric film, which contains Sr and Ti, has electric conductivity by being doped to n-type, and has a conduction band at an energy level higher than that of the perovskite dielectric substrate; a first electrode formed in electrical contact with a bottom surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate; and a second electrode formed in electrical contact with a top surface of the energy filter. The thermoelectric generator produces a voltage between the first and second electrodes by the top surface of the energy filter being exposed to a first temperature and the bottom surface of the perovskite dielectric substrate being exposed to a second temperature.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a thermoelectric leg comprises: a thermoelectric material layer comprising Bi and Te; a first metal layer and a second metal layer respectively arranged on one surface of the thermoelectric material layer and on a surface different from the one surface; a first adhesive layer arranged between the thermoelectric material layer and the first metal layer and comprising the Te, and a second adhesive layer arranged between the thermoelectric material layer and the second metal layer and comprising the Te; and a first plating layer arranged between the first metal layer and the first adhesive layer, and a second plating layer arranged between the second metal layer and the second adhesive layer, wherein the thermoelectric material layer is arranged between the first metal layer and the second metal layer, the amount of the Te is higher than the amount of the Bi from the centerline of the thermoelectric material layer to the interface between the thermoelectric material layer and the first adhesive layer, and the amount of the Te is higher than the amount of the Bi from the centerline of the thermoelectric material layer to the interface between the thermoelectric material layer and the second adhesive layer.

Disclosed is a thermoelectric device in which a separate interlayer is inserted between a thermoelectric leg and an electrode to reduce the contact resistance between the thermoelectric leg and the electrode, so that the interlayer serves as a tunneling path between the thermoelectric leg and the electrode, facilitating the charge movements between the two materials, and the thermoelectric device according to an embodiment includes a substrate, a thermoelectric leg positioned on the substrate, an interlayer positioned on the thermoelectric leg, and including a plurality of interlayer materials chemically bonded with the thermoelectric leg, and an electrode positioned on the interlayer, and electrically connected to the thermoelectric leg.

A thermoelectric device with multiple headers and a method of manufacturing such a device are provided herein. In some embodiments, a thermoelectric device includes multiple thermoelectric legs, a cold header thermally attached to the thermoelectric legs, and a hot header thermally attached to the thermoelectric legs opposite the cold header. At least one of the cold header and the hot header includes at least one score line. According to some embodiments disclosed herein, this the thermal stress on the thermoelectric device can be greatly reduced or relieved by splitting the header into multiple pieces or by scoring the header by a depth X. This enables the use of larger thermoelectric devices and/or thermoelectric devices with an increased lifespan.

An object of the present invention is to provide an n-type thermoelectric conversion layer, which has a high power factor and exhibits excellent performance stability, a thermoelectric conversion element including the n-type thermoelectric conversion layer, and a composition for forming an n-type thermoelectric conversion layer used in the n-type thermoelectric conversion layer. The n-type thermoelectric conversion layer of the present invention contains carbon nanotubes and an amine compound which is represented by General Formula (1) or (2) and has a C log P value of 2.0 to 8.2. ##STR00001##

The disclosed embodiments relate to the design of a temperature sensor, which is integrated into a semiconductor chip. This temperature sensor comprises an electro-thermal filter (ETF) integrated onto the semiconductor chip, wherein the ETF comprises: a heater; a thermopile, and a heat-transmission medium that couples the heater to the thermopile, wherein the heat-transmission medium comprises a polysilicon layer sandwiched between silicon dioxide layers. It also comprises a measurement circuit that measures a transfer function through the ETF to determine a temperature reading for the temperature sensor.