It is commonly claimed that achieving maximum power from a thermoelectric generator necessitates electrical load matching conditions instead of the operating condition derived for maximum generator efficiency. Here we explain why the electrical load matching claim for maximum power in a design optimization is flawed and show that the load condition derived for maximum efficiency always produces...

The thermoelectric compatibility factor is used to rationally select materials for a segmented thermoelectric generator. The thermoelectric potential is used for the exact analytic expressions for materials with temperature dependent thermoelectric properties. This calculation does not assume constant or averaged thermoelectric properties as is often done for analytic results. The calculations ...

We revisit the classical problem of the efficiency of inhomogeneous thermoelectric generators. The effects of different physical parameters on the efficiency of a generator are studied by solving the Domenicali’s equation numerically. It is found that the efficiency of a thermoelectric generator is insensitive to both the electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity. However, the efficiency ...

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Within the last decade, novel materials concepts and nanotechnology have resulted in a great increase of the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials. Despite this, a mass market for thermoelectric heat-to-electricity conversion is yet to be opened up. One reason for this is that the transfer of the lab records into fabrication techniques which enable thermoelectric generator modules i...

We report the fabrication and characterization of segmented element power generator modules of 16 x 16 thermoelectric elements consisting of 0.8 mm thick Bi2Te3 and 50 μm thick ErAs:(InGaAs)1-x(InAlAs)x with 0.6% ErAs by volume. Erbium Arsenide metallic nanoparticles are incorporated to create scattering centers for middle and long wavelength phonons, and to form local potential barriers for el...

This study suggests using thermoelectric element to generate electric energy from the heat source efficiently. This generator system consists of a Heater, the Lower Heat Transfer Plate to absorb heat from the Heater, Two-Stage Thermoelectric Device module to generate the electric power with the heat transferred from the Lower Heat Transfer Plate, the Upper Heat Transfer Plate to convey the heat...

We proposed the flexible thermoelectric generator (TEG) using double side FPCB (flexible printed circuit boards). The proposed flexible thermoelectric generator has the unique vertical structure. The heat of the flexible thermoelectric generator flows vertically via plated through hole (PTH). The n-type (Bi-Te) and p-type (Sb-Te) thin films are deposited by the co-evaporator and patterned using...

We report the fabrication and characterization of segmented element power generator modules of 254 thermoelectric elements. The element is 1 mm × 1 mm in area, which consists of 300 μm thickness Bi2Te3 and 50 μm thickness ErAs:(InGaAs)1-x(InAlAs)x, so that each segment can work at different temperature ranges. Erbium arsenide metallic nanoparticles are incorporated to create scattering centers ...

In this work, we have studied thermoelectric properties of monolayer and fewlayer MoS2 in both armchair and zigzag orientations. Density functional theory (DFT) using non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method has been implemented to calculate the transmission spectra of mono- and fewlayer MoS2 in armchair and zigzag directions. Phonon transmission spectra are calculated based on parameteri...