Developing thermoelectric materials with superior performance means tailoring interrelated thermoelectric physical parameters – electrical conductivities, Seebeck coefficients, and thermal conductivities – for a crystalline system. High electrical conductivity, low thermal conductivity, and a high Seebeck coefficient are desirable for thermoelectric materials. Therefore, knowledge of the relation between electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity is essential to improve thermoelectric properties. In general, research in recent years has focused on developing thermoelectric structures and materials of high efficiency. The importance of this parameter is universally recognized; it is an established, ubiquitous, routinely used tool for material, device, equipment and process characterization both in the thermoelectric industry and in research. In this paper, basic knowledge of thermoelectric materials and an overview of parameters that affect the figure of merit ZT are provided. The prospects for the optimization of thermoelectric materials and their applications are also discussed.

A review on thermoelectric renewable energy: Principle parameters that affect their performance

A review of thermoelectric cooling: Materials, modeling and applications

Thermoelectric cooler and thermoelectric generator devices: A review of present and potential applications, modeling and materials

Entropy generation analysis of graphene–alumina hybrid nanofluid in multiport minichannel heat exchanger coupled with thermoelectric cooler

This paper deals with a review of the main research aspects concerning the formulation of the parameters indicating the characteristics and performance of thermoelectric cooling devices, with particular reference to a number of recent publications. The specific aspects addressed include some practical considerations referring to the thermoelectric figure of merit, the characterization of the cooling capacity, and the assessment of the coefficient of performance ( COP ). The contribution of this paper starts by categorizing the topics addressed by recent review papers, showing that these reviews generally had a wide focus and provided little specific details on thermoelectric cooling parameters and performance. Then, the dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit is addressed by focusing on its conventional and modified definitions and indicating the values obtained for different thermoelectric cooling materials. Furthermore, the expressions of the cooling capacity for single-stage and multi-stage thermoelectric coolers are reviewed. Concerning the COP , its dedicated expressions are constructed starting from the classical formulation and introducing additional factors or modifications in order to take into account the Thomson effect, the dependence on temperature of the thermoelectric materials, and the effects of the electrical contact resistance, thermal resistance, thermoelement length and current. Finally, on the basis of the indications taken from the literature, further considerations are included on the COP values found in thermoelectric cooling applications, as well as on how to obtain COP improvements.

Ying-Che Weng

Papers

Thermoelectric water-cooling device applied to electronic equipment