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Decarbonization, the cost of energy, or digitalization, are all issues that are pushing the industry to undergo profound transformation. To do this, manufacturers need to monitor new parameters and therefore install many sensors. These sensors are basic (temperature, pressure, gas...) but their wiring is expensive. The alternative offered by industrial IoT (Internet of Things) battery-powered sensors is interesting when data transmission is infrequent. However, if it is a question of monitoring, the lifetime of the battery decreases, which raises the problem of the costs linked to their change, and on the other hand of their environmental impact (billions of batteries required worldwide). It is therefore necessary to find a source of energy to power these sensors. Today, 33% of the energy consumed by industry in France is lost in the form of waste heat, this form of energy is therefore well suited for this task because it is omnipresent in the industrial environment, abundant and free. Today the start-up MOÏZ, coordinator of the IoTEGH project, offers a range of autonomous industrial sensors using standard thermogenerators (TEG) based on Bi2Te3. Unfortunately, these sensors, which are not very compact and specific, are reserved for niche markets. To expand their market, MOÏZ wishes to miniaturize these thermogenerators by integrating a breakthrough technology, patented and developed at the Néel Institute (NEEL). This technology uses planar thermoelectric nano-generators (nanoTEGs) currently functionalized with thin layers of Bi2Te3. This material is standard for use in massive form but the specificities of nanoTEGs mean that it is not the most suitable in the case of thin layers. In this context, the IoTEGH project proposes to develop nanoTEGs based on the Fe2VAl (Full Heusler) material, which is more conductive, more abundant and less toxic, and therefore better suited to this application. These nanoTEGs could generate sufficient electrical power to supply connected sensors completely autonomously, without batteries or wires, by recycling waste heat lost in industrial processes and infrastructures. Initial tests, conducted by the Institute of Chemistry and Materials Paris-Est (ICMPE) and the Néel Institute (NEEL) on Fe2VAl, gave a favorable result which was thus published: the good thermoelectric properties obtained for a composition of bulk material (ICMPE) were reproduced when the same composition was deposited as a thin film (NEEL). The optimal compositions already determined at the ICMPE for n-type Fe2VAl can thus serve as reference compositions for films. New p-type Fe2VAl compositions to achieve the required specifications will be searched at ICMPE in bulk form. The processes for depositing thin layers of these alloys will then be developed by NEEL using a poly-target sputtering frame making it possible to reproduce the good thermoelectric properties reached at ICMPE. The n- and p-type thin layers will then be included by MOÏZ on Si-N membranes for the development of nanoTEGs via microelectronics processes. The thermoelectric performance of thin films and nanoTEG devices will be measured using specific instrumentation. The collaboration between ICMPE, NEEL and MOÏZ brings together all the skills and knowledge necessary for the successful completion of this ambitious project. The success of the IoTEGH project will lead to an easily integrable technology, comprising only non-toxic and available materials, capable of responding to the problem of the autonomy of industrial IoT sensors.
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