Related papers: Recent advances on thermoelectric materials
So far, the efficiency of thermoelectric energy conversion remains low compared to traditional technologies, such as coal or nuclear. This low efficiency can be explained by connecting the thermoelastic properties of the electronic working…
Thermoelectric materials can generate clean energy by transforming waste heat into electricity. The effectiveness of thermoelectric materials is measured by the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT. The quest for high ZT materials has drawn…
Advances in solid-state device design now allow the spectrum of transmitted electrons in thermionic and thermoelectric devices to be engineered in ways that were not previously possible. Here we show that the shape of the electron energy…
Thermal energy can be directly converted to electrical energy as a result of thermoelectric effects. Because this conversion realises clean energy technology, such as waste heat recovery and energy harvesting, substantial efforts have been…
Electric power may, in principle, be generated in a highly efficient manner from heat created by focused solar irradiation, chemical combustion, or nuclear decay by means of thermionic energy conversion. As the conversion efficiency of the…
Graphite nanofibers (GNFs) have been demonstrated to be a promising material for hydrogen storage and heat management in electronic devices. Here, by means of first-principles and transport simulations, we show that GNFs can also be an…
The principles of the thermoelectric phenomenon, including Seebeck effect, Peltier effect, and Thomson effect are discussed. The dependence of the thermoelectric devices on the figure of merit, Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity,…
The present work is an attempt to understand and review existing methods of energy generation in electric vehicles in the modern day context. Previous works in the field have proposed various mechanisms of energy generation that are very…
We examine the efficiency of an effective two-terminal thermoelectric device under broken time-reversal symmetry. The setup is derived from a three-terminal thermoelectric device comprising a thermal terminal and two electronic contacts,…
Thermoelectric generators are particularly suitable to investigate the irreversible processes which govern the coupled transport of matter and heat in solid-state systems. We study the efficiency at maximum power in the strong coupling…
Conventional metals, insulators, and semimetals are constrained by fundamental limitations in terms of their thermoelectric performance. Topological materials offer certain features that allow them to circumvent these constraints, and…
More than half of the waste heat rejected into the environment has temperatures lower than 100 $^\circ C$, which accounts for nearly 85 PWh/year worldwide. Efficiently harvesting low-grade heat could be a promising step toward carbon…
Thermoelectric devices that utilize the Seebeck effect convert heat flow into electrical energy and are highly desirable for the development of portable, solid state, passively-powered electronic systems. The conversion efficiencies of such…
Thermoelectrics (TE) materials manifest themselves in direct conversion of temperature differences to electric power and vice versa. Despite remarkable advances have been achieved in the past decades for various TE systems, the energy…
Boundary-engineering in nanostructures has the potential to dramatically impact the development of materials for high-efficiency conversion of thermal energy directly into electricity. In particular, nanostructuring of semiconductors can…
Improvement of thermoelectric systems in terms of performance and range of applications relies on progress in materials science and optimization of device operation. In this chapter, we focuse on optimization by taking into account the…
Solid-state heat-to-electrical power converters are thermodynamic engines that use fundamental particles, such as electrons or photons, as working fluids. Virtually all commercially available devices are thermoelectric generators, in which…
We review experimental and theoretical results on thermal transport in semiconductor nanostructures (multilayer thin films, core/shell and segmented nanowires), single- and few-layer graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, molybdenum disulfide…
Thermionics and thermophotovoltaics are solid-state technologies that convert high-temperature heat into electricity by utilizing fundamental particles, electrons in thermionics and photons in thermophotovoltaics, as energy carriers. Both…
Thin-film thermoelectric generators with a novel folding scheme are proposed for large-area, low energy-density applications. Both the electrical current and heat transfer are in the plane of the thermoelectric thin-film, yet the heat…