Irreversible effects in thermoelectric materials limit their efficiency and economy for applications in power generation and refrigeration. While electron transport is unavoidably irreversible in bulk materials, here we derive conditions under which reversible diffusive electron transport can be achieved in nanostructured thermoelectric materials. We provide a fundamental thermodynamic explanat...

The cooling capacity, efficiency and cooling flux for a single stage thermoelectric cooler, as part of a multistage cooler, is analyzed in this study. The Lagrange Multiplier method is used to develop nonlinear algebraic equations for the optimum condition for different objective functions. The analysis includes the effect of heat leak, thermal boundary resistances with thermal reservoirs and t...

Thermoelectric technology, which possesses potential application in recycling industrial waste heat as energy, calls for novel high-performance materials. The systematic exploration of novel thermoelectric materials with excellent electronic transport properties is severely hindered by limited insight into the underlying bonding orbitals of atomic structures. Here we propose a simple yet succes...

Thermoelectric thin films have been widely explored for thermal-to-electrical energy conversion or solid-state cooling, because they can remove heat from integrated circuit (IC) chips or micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices without involving any moving mechanical parts. In this paper, we report using silicon diode-based temperature sensors and specific thermoelectric devices to charac...

Temperature is one of the most important environmental stimuli to record and amplify. While traditional thermoelectric materials are attractive for temperature/heat flow sensing applications, their sensitivity is limited by their low Seebeck coefficient (∼100 μV K-1). Here we take advantage of the large ionic thermoelectric Seebeck coefficient found in polymer electrolytes (∼10,000 μV K-1) to i...

Thermoelectric structural materials are potentially attractive for large-scale energy harvesting. Through filler incorporation and unprecedented decoupling of the bulk (laminae) and interfacial (interlaminar interfaces) contributions to the Seebeck voltage (through-thickness Seebeck voltage of a crossply continuous carbon fiber/epoxy composite laminate), this work provides thermoelectric power ...

In recent years, with the increase awareness towards environmental degradation due to the production, use and disposal of ChloroFluoro Carbons (CFCs) and Hydro Chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as heat carrier fluids in conventional refrigeration and air conditioning systems has become a subject of great concern and resulted in extensive research into development of novel refrigeration and space cond...

Screen printing allows for direct conversion of thermoelectric nanocrystals into flexible energy harvesters and coolers. However, obtaining flexible thermoelectric materials with high figure of merit ZT through printing is an exacting challenge due to the difficulties to synthesize high-performance thermoelectric inks and the poor density and electrical conductivity of the printed films. Here, ...

1 Recent droughts and heatwaves showed the vulnerability of the electricity sector to surface water 2 constraints with reduced potentials for thermoelectric power and hydropower generation in different 3 regions. Here we use a global hydrological-electricity modelling framework to quantify the impacts of 4 recent drought and warm years on hydropower and thermoelectric power usable capacity worl...