THERMOELECTRIC CONVERSION MATERIAL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME

• US 20150075578A1
• Filed: 04/17/2013
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lintec Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lintec Corporation
• Inventors: Kato, Kunihisa, Mutou, Tsuyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 10,403,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 136/205
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/01 Manufacture or treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/17 characterised by the structure or configuration of the cell or thermocouple forming the device
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/817 the junction being non-separable, e.g. being cemented, sintered or soldered
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 10/852 comprising tellurium, selenium or sulfur

Abstract

The present invention provides a thermoelectric conversion material having a reduced thermal conductivity and having an improved figure of merit, and a method for producing the material. The thermoelectric conversion material has, as formed on a resin substrate having recesses, a thermoelectric semiconductor layer formed of a thermoelectric semiconductor material, wherein the resin substrate comprises one formed by curing a resin layer of a curable resin composition. The production method for the thermoelectric conversion material comprises a resin substrate formation step of transcribing a protruding structure from an original plate having the protruding structure onto a resin layer of a curable resin composition and curing the layer, and a film formation step of forming a thermoelectric semiconductor layer of a thermoelectric semiconductor material on the resin substrate.

Claims

1. A thermoelectric conversion material having, as formed on a resin substrate having recesses, a thermoelectric semiconductor layer formed of a thermoelectric semiconductor material, wherein the resin substrate comprises one formed by curing a resin layer of a curable resin composition.

2. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 1, wherein the curable resin composition is an energy ray-curable resin composition.

3. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 2, wherein the resin substrate is one formed by pressurizing an original plate having protrusions and a resin layer of the energy ray-curable resin composition arranged to face each other, irradiating them with an energy ray to cure the layer.

4. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 2, wherein the energy ray-curable resin composition contains a (meth)acrylate copolymer having an energy ray-curable group in the side chain thereof.

5. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 2, wherein the energy ray-curable resin composition contains a polymer not having energy ray-curability and an energy ray-curable monomer and/or oligomer.

6. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the resin substrate is from 1 to 100 μ

m.

7. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 1, wherein the resin substrate has a large number of independent recesses.

8. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the recesses is a columnar or grooved one.

9. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 8, wherein the depth of the recesses is from 5 to 10000 nm, the diameter or the groove width of the recesses is from 10 to 5000 nm, and the distance between the centers of the neighboring recesses is from 15 to 5500 nm.

10. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric semiconductor layer exists on the top of the resin substrate, and the inner bottom of each recess is kept electrically insulated from that top.

11. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 1, wherein the film thickness of the thermoelectric semiconductor layer is from 10 to 5000 nm.

12. The thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric semiconductor material is a bismuth-tellurium-based thermoelectric semiconductor material or a bismuth-selenide-based thermoelectric semiconductor material.

13. A method for producing a thermoelectric conversion material having a film of a thermoelectric semiconductor layer formed on a resin substrate having recesses, which comprises a resin substrate formation step of transcribing a protruding structure from an original plate having the protruding structure onto a resin layer of a curable resin composition and curing the layer, and a film formation step of forming a thermoelectric semiconductor layer of a thermoelectric semiconductor material on the resin substrate.

14. The method for producing a thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 13, wherein:

the resin substrate formation step includes a resin layer formation step of forming a resin layer from the curable resin composition, a transcription step of pressurizing the resin layer and the original plate arranged to face each other so as to transcribe the protruding structure from the original plate to the resin layer, and a recesses formation step of curing the resin layer and then peeling the layer from the original plate to form the recesses on the layer.

15. The method for producing a thermoelectric conversion material according to claim 13, wherein the film formation step is according to a flash vapor deposition method.