In recent years, the substantially improved performance of thermoelectric (TE) materials has attracted considerable interest in studying the potential applications of the TE technique. Serving as the bridge between TE materials and applicable TE products, TE devices must be properly designed, engineered, and assembled to meet the required performance of TE products for cooling (thermoelectric cooler) and power generation (thermoelectric generator). The principle feasibility of the TE technique has been demonstrated using a variety of different materials and processing technologies, and many different architectures of TE devices have been successfully realized. This review discusses the architectures of TE devices, including bulk and thin‐film TE devices, TE devices with flexible designs, pn‐junction‐based TE devices that provide robust solutions for high operation temperatures, and the meta‐material‐based transverse TE devices. In addition, the assembly of TE devices involves contact layers on which the reliability of TE devices depends. Thus solutions to contact issues, including bonding strength, contact resistance, and thermomechanical stress, are also reviewed.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/admt.201700256

Thermoelectric Devices: A Review of Devices, Architectures, and Contact Optimization

Thermoelectricity for IoT – A review

In this review, we report the state-of-the-art of polymers in thermoelectricity. Classically, a number of inorganic compounds have been considered as the best thermoelectric materials. Since the prediction of the improvement of the figure of merit by means of electronic confinement in 1993, it has been improved by a factor of 3-4. In the mean time, organic materials, in particular intrinsically conducting polymers, had been considered as competitors of classical thermoelectrics, since their figure of merit has been improved several orders of magnitude in the last few years. We review here the evolution of the figure of merit or the power factor during the last years, and the best candidates to compete with inorganic materials. We also outline the best polymers to substitute classical thermoelectric materials and the advantages they present in comparison with inorganic systems.

Review on Polymers for Thermoelectric Applications.

Bottoming cycles for electric energy generation: Parametric investigation of available and innovative solutions for the exploitation of low and medium temperature heat sources

Micro-thermoelectric devices

By using the low thermal conductivity of SiGe to increase the average temperature along the pn-junction of the structure, the efficiency and power output of our thermoelectric elements can be increased dramatically. Further improvement can be achieved by using optimized graded Ge content to fully adapt the temperature distribution to our needs

/pdf/thermoelectric-power-generation-using-large-area-si-sige-pn-507dybu2ac.pdf

Thermoelectric Power Generation Using Large Area Si/SiGe pn-Junctions with Varying Ge-Content

A new method for thermoelectric power generation using large area pn-junctions is presented [Span, et al., 2005]. Normally, thermal generation of electron-hole pairs is avoided because of the deteriorating effects of the minority carriers on the efficiency in classical thermocouples. A temperature gradient applied along the pn-junction causes a flux of carriers from hot to cold due to the Seebeck effect, which introduces a reverse bias and thus thermal generation in the hot part of the pn-structure. The generation of electron-hole pairs leads to a multitude of new properties that can be used to enhance the efficiency of the energy conversion. The generation rate of electron-hole pairs is a highly adjustable parameter, which makes it possible to tailor thermoelectric elements and modules to given boundary conditions. This is achieved by changing the amount and distribution of generation centers and the shape of the temperature gradient as well as the choice of the material system. Due to the generation of electrons and holes, no contact on the hot side of the thermoelectric element is necessary. Limitations of the hot side temperature caused by mechanical stress due to different thermal expansion of different materials or by the solder or joining material are therefore non-existing. To describe these structures, an effective figure of merit Zeff is calculated using the device simulator Minimos-NT [2004]

/pdf/thermoelectric-power-conversion-using-generation-of-electron-3dhkevh0vx.pdf

Thermoelectric Power Conversion using Generation of Electron-Hole Pairs in Large Area p-n Junctions

Innovative design of bismuth-telluride-based thermoelectric micro-generators with high output power

We present a technology for thermoelectric generators using large area pn-junctions. Thermally generated carriers are separated by the gradient of the built-in potential caused by the pn-junction. The use of these structures for waste heat recovery implies an externally applied temperature gradient in-plane with the pn-junction which causes a current of both electrons and holes from the heated to the cooled side, where electrical contacts are mounted. The device behavior is strongly influenced by the magnitude and the spatial distribution of the generation rate as well as the local transport properties. We present the influence of the alloy composition on the material properties and possibilities to increase the power output by modification of the local material composition. Furthermore, the influence of intentionally implanted gold atoms as additional generation centers is assessed. Effective optimization of thermoelectric generators requires a powerful simulation environment due to the strong correlation of different mechanisms within the device. We present simulation results obtained by the device and circuit simulator Minimos-NT working in conjunction with the optimization framework Siesta.

/pdf/power-output-improvement-of-silicon-germanium-thermoelectric-291rpcwnv7.pdf

Power Output Improvement of Silicon-Germanium Thermoelectric Generators

We present a new theoretical approach for the integer quantum Hall effect, which is able to describe the inter-plateau transitions as well as the transition to the Hall insulator. We find two regimes (metallic and insulator like) of the top Landau level, in which the dissipative bulk current appears in different directions. The regimes are separated by a temperature invariant point.

Universality in the crossover between edge-channel and bulk transport in the quantum hall regime

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