Executive Summary : | Sustainable energy solutions are gaining attention as human society seeks to meet electrical energy demands. Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal only provide a small fraction of electricity consumption due to their high costs. Heat, which accounts for approximately 60% of energy, is an untapped source of low-cost sustainable electricity. Thermoelectric energy conversion technology has gained significant attention, particularly in converting waste heat energy into electrical energy. The use of thermoelectric materials has led to the development of self-powering devices powered by heat from their working environment. Thermoelectric materials are typically in the form of bulk, thin film, or low-dimensional structures like Skutterudite type alloy. Thin films, due to their lower thermal conductivity and strong phonon scattering at their interfaces, offer opportunities for improving thermoelectric efficiency and applications in flexible devices. Some thermoelectric materials, like Bi2S3 and Bi2Te3, have found applications in cooling at room temperature, but their efficiencies are not sufficient for commercial applications. Further research is needed to identify materials with high thermoelectric efficiencies for commercial use. In2Se3 is a potential candidate due to its high electrical conductivity, low thermal conductivity, high carrier mobility, high power-factor, and high merit at lower temperatures. The proposed work will study the thermoelectric properties of In2Se3 thin films with varied electrical conductivity due to post-deposition annealing, and use optimized thin films for the development of Thermoelectric Energy Harvester devices. |
Co-PI: | Dr. Monika Tomar, Miranda House, Delhi-110007, Prof. Arijit Chowdhuri, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Delhi-110019, Prof. Pradip Kumar Jha, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, New Delhi-110078 |