Research team develops key n-type thermoelectric semiconductor technology to recycle waste heat

A research team has developed a bismuth telluride (Bi-Te) based thermoelectric material with artificially formed atomic-scale defects and proposed a solution to improve its properties in order to harness wasted thermal energy. This is a semiconductor technology applied to thermoelectric power generators that generate electricity by recycling waste heat below 200℃ from industrial and transportation sectors such as factories, automobiles, and ship engines. Thermoelectric power generators are a combination of p-type and n-type semiconductors that reversibly convert temperature differences into electrical energy and vice versa.