Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

Accelerate the spread of thermoelectric materials and devices in society.

Energy harvesting / IoT / Thermoelectric property / Seebeck effect / Silicon / Natural cooling

Our focus lies in developing sustainable and efficient thermoelectric materials and devices capable of generating electricity from temperature differences found in the environment, such as those within the range of room temperature (± several tens of degrees Celsius). To achieve this goal, we are developing high-performance thermoelectric materials based on silicon that are safe and abundant, and also developing passive cooling mechanisms that take advantage of enhanced heat transfer via water adsorption and desorption characteristics of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and hydrogels in response to temperature changes. 
By combining advancements in thermoelectric materials and passive cooling methods, we strive to accelerate the integration of thermoelectric technologies into various applications, revolutionizing power generation and sustainability in the modern world.

Seebeck coefficient and working principle of thermoelectric materials
Increasing ZT with newly developed fast sintering method
Thermoelectric material fabrication experiment
Natural cooling mechanism using hydrogel in TE devices.

Related Publications

  1. Ahmet Alperen Günay, Sivasankaran Harish, Masanori Fuchi, Ikuya Kinefuchi, Yaerim Lee, Junichiro Shiomi, “Metal–organic framework coated porous structures for enhanced thermoelectric performance”, Energy Conversion and Management 255, 115289 (2022). [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115289]

  2. Rajkumar Modak, Masayuki Murata, Dazhi Hou, Asuka Miura, Ryo Iguchi, Bin Xu, Rulei Guo, Junichiro Shiomi, Yuya Sakuraba, Ken-ichi Uchida, “Phase-transition-induced giant Thomson effect for thermoelectric cooling”, Applied Physics Reviews 9, 011414 (2022). [https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0077497]

  3. Shrikant Saini, Paolo Mele, Takafumi Oyake, Junichiro Shiomi, Janne-Petteri Niemelä, Maarit Karppinen, Koji Miyazaki, Chaoyang Li, Toshiyuki Kawaharamura, Ataru Ichinose, Leopoldo Molina-Luna, Porosity-tuned thermal conductivity in thermoelectric Al-doped ZnO thin films grown by mist-chemical vapor deposition, Thin Solid Films, 685, 180-185 (2019). [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2019.06.010]

  4. Asuka Miura, Zhou Shu, Tomohiro Nozaki, Junichiro Shiomi, “Crystalline-amorphous nanostructures for bulk silicon thermoelectric materials with reduced thermal conductivity”, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 7, 13484 (2015). [http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.5b02537]

  5. Yoshiaki Nakamura, Masayuki Isogawa, Tomohiro Ueda, Shuto Yamasaka, Hideki Matsui, Jun Kikkawa, Satoaki Ikeuchi, Takafumi Oyake, Takuma Hori, Junichiro Shiomi, Akira Sakai, “Anomalous reduction of thermal conductivity in coherent nanocrystal architecture for silicon thermoelectric material”, Nano Energy, Rapid communication, Vol. 12, 845 (2015). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2014.11.029]