Related papers: Comment on "Effective thermal conductivity in ther…
Thermoelectric devices are heat engines, which operate as generators or refrigerators using the conduction electrons as a working fluid. The thermoelectric heat-to-work conversion efficiency has always been typically quite low, but much…
An analytical model is presented that can account for both electrical and hot and cold thermal contact resistances when calculating the efficiency of a thermoelectric generator. The model is compared to a numerical model of a thermoelectric…
We study how maximum output power can be obtained from a thermoelectric generator(TEG) with nonideal heat exchangers. We demonstrate with an analytic approach based on a force-flux formalism that the sole improvement of the intrinsic…
Optimization analyses of thermoelectric generators operation is of importance both for practical applications and theoretical considerations. Depending on the desired goal, two different strategies are possible to achieve high performance:…
Decades of research on thermoelectrics stimulated by the fact that nano- and meso-scale thermoelectric transport could yield higher energy conversion efficiency and output power has recently uncovered a new direction on inelastic…
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…
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…
Thermoelectric devices convert temperature gradients into electrical power and vice versa, thus enabling energy scavenging from waste heat, sensing and cooling. Yet, many of these attractive applications are hindered by the limited…
Thermoelectric power generators are used to convert heat into electricity. Like any other heat engine, the performance of a thermoelectric generator increases as the temperature difference on the sides increases. It is generally assumed…
The energy dependent thermoelectric response of a single molecule contains valuable information about its transmission function and its excited states. However, measuring it requires devices that can efficiently heat up one side of the…
It is shown that equations for electrical current in solid-state thermionic and thermoelectric devices converge for devices with a width equal to the mean free path of electrons, yielding a common expression for intensive electronic…
Solid-state thermoelectric devices are currently used in applications ranging from thermocouple sensors to power generators in satellites, to portable air-conditioners and refrigerators. With the ever-rising demand throughout the world for…
We propose a scheme of multilayer thermoelectric engine where {\em one} electric current is coupled to {\em two} temperature gradients in three-terminal geometry. This is realized by resonant tunneling through quantum dots embedded in two…
We reply to the comment made by Su et al. on "Optimal working conditions for thermoelectric generators with realistic thermal coupling". In particular we justify the efficiency definition used in the main paper.
Situations where a spontaneous process of energy or matter transfer is enhanced by an external device are widespread in nature (human sweating system, enzyme catalysis, facilitated diffusion across bio-membranes, industrial heat…
By converting waste heat into electricity through the thermoelectric power of solids without producing greenhouse gas emissions, thermoelectric generators could be an important part of the solution to today's energy challenge. There has…
Transverse thermoelectric effects interconvert charge and heat currents in orthogonal directions due to the breaking of either time-reversal symmetry or structural symmetry, enabling simple and versatile thermal energy harvesting and…
The theory of thermoelectric effects in superconductors is discussed in connection to the recent publication by Marinescu and Overhauser, Phys. Rev. B 55, 11637 (1997). We argue that the charge on-conservation arguments by Marinescu and…
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…
Thermoelectrics involves both the generation of electrical power from heat flow, and the efficient refrigeration using electricity, which has been intensively focused on for two decades. The performance of thermoelectric power generation…