# name
Viabilidad de los materiales termoelectricos

# metadata.dc.description[].value
Treballs Finals del Màster d’Energies Renovables i Sostenibilitat Energètica, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2013-2014, Tutora: Dra. Mercè Segarra Rubí

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
Thermoelectric materials are able to take advantage of the waste heat in power plants
and convert it into additional electricity; as well as to generate a thermal gradient using
an electric current. Due to those characteristics thermoelectric materials are considered
as a clean energy.
Thermoelectric modules have a low efficiency (15% maximum), and actual lines of
research are looking for higher efficiency materials.
However, economic and sustainability factors are not taken into account in those
investigations, and those can be critical for a large scale implantation. For example, it
makes no sense to study materials whose components are not produced in necessary
quantities, or even very expensive materials.
In this project, some materials efficiency/cost relations are analyzed in order to choose
which of them is a potential candidate for a large scale application, considering
information about elements annual production or recycling potential.
From this research in can be deduced that Zn4Sb3 is a good option if application’s
temperature is between 300 K and 700 K due to its cheapness. On the other hand, for
high temperature applications (1000 K), silicon-germanium alloys seem to be the best
choice.

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Màster Oficial - Energies Renovables i Sostenibilitat Energètica

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Viabilidad de los materiales termoelectricos