New materials and devices for thermoelectric applications

Abstract

New high efficiency thermoelectric materials with ZT values substantially larger than 1.0 have been recently developed. The successful development of a segmented thermoelectric generator utilizing a combination of state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials and these novel thermoelectric materials could result in a high thermal-to-electric materials conversion efficiency over 19%. This is because the new thermoelectric materials have a higher average ZT value and the generator can be operated in a temperature range wider than possible with state-of-the-art (SOA) materials. Such improved power generators could be used for a variety of applications including waste heat recovery. This could also lead to the development of high performance thermoelectric generators operating in a relatively narrow temperature range for specific applications. However, there are also new low power and thermal management applications for small thermoelectric devices using SOA materials. If more efficient thermoelectric materials are incorporated, the performance of these new devices will be even higher.