Paper TF+PS-TuM12
Infrared and Thermoelectric Power Generation in Thin Atomic Layer Deposited Films

Tuesday, November 11, 2014, 11:40 am, Room 307

A mechanism for alternative energy, thermoelectric (TE) power generation, converts a temperature difference across two junctions into an electric potential. Although not as energy-efficient as solar panels or wind turbines, this mechanism is used in a wide variety of fields, e.g. to recapture waste heat. Recently it was discovered that a solid state TE power generators respond differently to heat or infrared (IR) radiation [1, 2]. To test the robustness of this finding, this research compares TE and IR power generation in the case of a nanometric TE device in which the active element is a thin TE film. The thin TE film is a 70 nm thick n-type Nb-doped titanium oxide film deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) onto a borosilicate glass substrate [3]. The interactions observed with heat show a linear relationship between temperature and voltage, whereas in IR radiation this linear relationship is broken down. The efficiency and the voltage stability obtained with the thin TE film is larger than that obtained by closing the electric circuit without the thin TE film. The possibility of using thin ALD films for IR power generation suggests that in the future the response to IR radiation can be tuned by exploiting the properties of the thin atomic layer deposited TE films.

[1] R. J. Parise and G. F. Jones, Collection of Technical papers – 2^nd International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 1172–1181 (2004).

[2] Y. Schwab, H. S. Mann, B. N. Lang, J. L. Lancaster, R. J. Parise, A. J. Vincent-Johnson, and G. Scarel, Complexity 19, 44-55 (2013).

[3] J. Niemelä, H. Yamauchi, and M. Karppinen, Thin Solid Films 551, 19-22 (2014).