reviewAdvanced MaterialsMar 6, 2017Closed access

Compromise and Synergy in High‐Efficiency Thermoelectric Materials

Zhejiang University · The Ohio State University · +1 more institution

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed the rapid growth of thermoelectric (TE) research. Novel concepts and paradigms are described here that have emerged, targeting superior TE materials and higher TE performance. These superior aspects include band convergence, "phonon-glass electron-crystal", multiscale phonon scattering, resonant states, anharmonicity, etc. Based on these concepts, some new TE materials with distinct features have been identified, including solids with high band degeneracy, with cages in which atoms rattle, with nanostructures at various length scales, etc. In addition, the performance of classical materials has been improved remarkably. However, the figure of merit zT of most TE materials is…

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1,571
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62.49
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100%
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Authors

6

Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Materials science
  • Anharmonicity
  • Figure of merit
  • Thermoelectric materials
  • Decoupling (probability)
  • Thermoelectric effect
  • Nanotechnology
  • Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry)
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