PhD Thesis Proposal: Ya Tang

ZOOM LINK

"Design and Manufacturing of Structured Thermoelectric and Catalytic Materials for Sustainable Energy Conversion"

Abstract

Thermoelectric generators and catalysts provide two important pathways for sustainable energy conversion through waste heat recovery and chemical conversion, respectively. However, most existing studies focus primarily on improving material-level performance and provide limited manufacturing guidance for enhancing structural-level properties and system-level functionality. This thesis investigates the design and manufacturing of structured thermoelectric and catalytic materials with a focus on tailoring structural features to enhance their energy-conversion performance.  

The first part focuses on improving output voltage and power of existing Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric materials by optimizing their structural architecture and manufacturing processes. Metastructure design is carried out computationally to balance heat dissipation and electrical resistance. Compared to the traditional bulk TE leg design, the optimized 2D metastructure can double the output power with good mechanical strength. At the system level, metastructure heat sinks and turbulators are integrated with water cooling to further improve thermoelectric performance. The second part extends structural design and 3D printing to catalytic materials. Direct Ink Writing is used to fabricate open-cell zeolite catalysts with up to 90.5 wt.% zeolite loading. Catalyst architecture and Co/Mo doping are further optimized to reduce pressure drop and improve mechanical strength by 4.39-fold over the state of the art.

To further improve power and mechanical strength, a meta-composite TE leg is proposed by combining a dense Bi-Sb-Te core, manufactured via liquid-phase sintering, with a 3D-printed alumina shell-fin structure. The effects of heat dissipation, TE core fabrication, and structural design on thermoelectric and mechanical performance will be systematically evaluated. In addition, the energy recovered by TE materials can be used to accelerate catalytic chemical conversion. An integrated TE-catalyst system that combines thermoelectric energy harvesting with catalytic electrolysis is proposed for hydrogen generation. The electrical power generated by the TE will directly drive the electrolysis reaction, thereby eliminating the need for an external power source.

Thesis Committee

• Yan Li (Chair)
• Jifeng Liu
• Will Scheideler
• Xianhui Zhao (ORNL)

Contact

For more information, contact Thayer Registrar at thayer.registrar@dartmouth.edu .