Research Projects

Objective: The present proposal proposes to develop the Tin-Selenide (SnSe) thermoelectric thin films by PVD process with high figure of merit

Summary: In metallurgical, automobile industries, significant amount of thermal energy gets dissipated into the environment during various stages of plant operation. This dissipation of thermal energy makes the working environment inhuman and enhances the load on the cooling systems and ultimately increase the CO2 generation. Therefore, it is desired to recycle the excess heat into the production system. Thermoelectric materials are the one, which can be effective to tap these waste heats into electricity. However, thermoelectric material with high ZT (the conversion efficiency) are not available or the research is being carried out in this direction. Recently SnSe single crystal has been reported to have ZT value of the order of 2.6. However, the fabrication of SnSe single crystal is a tedious process and these crystals are also very brittle. Efforts are on to improve the performances of these materials in the form of thin films or thick films. Thin films can be grown in single direction and coated on large areas, and has the potential for use in recovery of waste heat. The research on SnSe thermoelectric thin films are initial stage globally and needs lot of understanding and development to make the thermoelectric generators. The present proposal proposes to develop the Tin-Selenide (SnSe) thermoelectric thin films by PVD process with high figure of merit.