Lack of materials which are thermoelectrically efficient and economically attractive is a challenge in thermoelectricity. Silicon could be a good thermoelectric material offering CMOS compatibility, harmlessness and cost reduction but it features a too high thermal conductivity. High harvested power density of 7W/cm2 at deltaT=30K is modeled based on a thin-film lateral architecture of thermo-converter that takes advantage of confinement effects to reduce the thermal conductivity. The simulation leads to the conclusion that 10nm thick Silicon has 10 times higher efficiency than bulk.
@article{arxiv.1605.06243,
title = {Thermoelectric Energy Conversion: How Good Can Silicon Be?},
author = {M. Haras and V. Lacatena and F. Morini and J. -F. Robillard and S. Monfray and T. Skotnicki and E. Dubois},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.06243},
year = {2016}
}