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Complex thermoelectric materials

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 105–114 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Thermoelectric materials, which can generate electricity from waste heat or be used as solid-state Peltier coolers, could play an important role in a global sustainable energy solution. Such a development is contingent on identifying materials with higher thermoelectric efficiency than available at present, which is a challenge owing to the conflicting combination of material traits that are required. Nevertheless, because of modern synthesis and characterization techniques, particularly for nanoscale materials, a new era of complex thermoelectric materials is approaching. We review recent advances in the field, highlighting the strategies used to improve the thermopower and reduce the thermal conductivity.

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Figure 1: Optimizing zT through carrier concentration tuning.
Figure 2: Complex crystal structures that yield low lattice thermal conductivity.
Figure 3: Substructure approach used to separate the electron-crystal and phonon-glass attributes of a thermoelectric.
Figure 4: Nanostructured thermoelectrics may be formed by the solid-state partitioning of a precursor phase.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jean-Pierre Fleurial and Thierry Caillat for discussions concerning skutterudites, Marlow Industries, Cronin Vining, Yaniv Gelbstein, Ken Kurosaki for data and discussions and JPL-NASA and the Beckman Institute at Caltech for funding.

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    G. Jeffrey Snyder & Eric S. Toberer

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Snyder, G., Toberer, E. Complex thermoelectric materials. Nature Mater 7, 105–114 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2090

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