Journal ArticleDOI
A review of thermoelectrics research – Recent developments and potentials for sustainable and renewable energy applications
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TLDR
In this article, the authors present the great potential of achieving both environmental and economic benefits by exclusively utilizing thermoelectric applications in different areas and discuss the difficulties in terms of the commercialisation of advanced materials.Abstract:
In recent years, thermoelectric (TE) devices have emerged as promising alternative environmental friendly applications for heat pumps and power generators since the environmental issues such as the global warming and the limitations of energy resources gradually drew worldwide attentions. Due to the green feature and distinct advantages, the thermoelectric technology have been applied to different areas in an effort of designing simple, compact and environmental friendly systems. The applied areas are extended from the earliest application on kerosene lamp to aerospace applications, transportation tools, industrial utilities, medical services, electronic devices and temperature detecting and measuring facilities. The application potentials of TE in directly conversing thermal energy into electrical power have been identified, especially for where the cost of thermal energy input need not to be considered, such as waste heat utilization, in the light of the present low efficiency of thermoelectric conversion. The capability of TE in producing thermal energy (in terms of cooling or heating) with the use of electrical power is also well identified. This paper reviews the status of the material development and thermoelectric applications in different areas and discusses the difficulties in terms of the commercialisations of advanced materials. Other than this, the main purpose of this paper is to present the great potential of achieving both environmental and economic benefits by exclusively utilizing thermoelectric applications in different areas. It also comes to the conclusion that the thermoelectric applications with the current conversion efficiency are economically and technically practical for micro/small applications. However, it would be transformed to a more significant green energy solution for improving the current environment and energy issues by using medium/large scale thermoelectric applications when the thermoelectric materials with a figure-of-merit over 2 come into commercial practice.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
High Performance Thermoelectric Materials: Progress and Their Applications
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on major novel strategies to achieve high-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials and their applications, and present a review of these strategies.
Journal ArticleDOI
A comprehensive review of thermoelectric technology: materials, applications, modelling and performance improvement
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive review of thermoelectric (TE) technology encompassing the materials, applications, modelling techniques and performance improvement is carried out, including output power conditioning techniques.
Journal ArticleDOI
Applications of nanofluids in solar energy: A review of recent advances
Ammar H. Elsheikh,Ammar H. Elsheikh,Swellam W. Sharshir,Mohamed E. Mostafa,Fadl A. Essa,Fadl A. Essa,Mohamed Kamal Ahmed Ali +6 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the recent advances in the nanofluids' applications in solar energy systems, i.e., solar collectors, photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems, solar thermoelectric devices, solar water heaters, solar-geothermal combined cooling heating and power system (CCHP), evaporative cooling for greenhouses, and water desalination.
Journal ArticleDOI
Significantly Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of PEDOT:PSS Films through Sequential Post‐Treatments with Common Acids and Bases
TL;DR: In this article, a novel and facile method is reported to significantly enhance the thermoelectric (TE) property of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) films through sequential post-treatments with common acids and bases.
Journal ArticleDOI
Wearable thermoelectric generators for human body heat harvesting
TL;DR: In this paper, an optimum TEG design was developed and experiments were conducted both on a temperature controlled hot plate and on different body locations including the wrist, upper arm, and chest.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit
TL;DR: Th thin-film thermoelectric materials are reported that demonstrate a significant enhancement in ZT at 300 K, compared to state-of-the-art bulk Bi2Te3 alloys, and the combination of performance, power density and speed achieved in these materials will lead to diverse technological applications.
BookDOI
CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics
TL;DR: In this article, Rowe et al. proposed a method for reducing the thermal conductivity of a thermoelectric generator by reducing the carrier concentration of the generator, which was shown to improve the generator's performance.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effect of quantum-well structures on the thermoelectric figure of merit.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed to use quantum-well superlattice structures to enhance the performance of thermoelectric coolers and showed that layering has the potential to increase significantly the figure of merit of a highly anisotropic material.
Journal ArticleDOI
Thermoelectric Cooling and Power Generation
TL;DR: Improved materials would not only help to cool advanced electronics but could also provide energy benefits in refrigeration and when using waste heat to generate electrical power.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cubic AgPbmSbTe2+m: Bulk Thermoelectric Materials with High Figure of Merit
Kuei Fang Hsu,Sim Loo,Fu Guo,Wei Chen,Jeffrey S. Dyck,Ctirad Uher,Timothy P. Hogan,Efstathios K. Polychroniadis,Mercouri G. Kanatzidis +8 more
TL;DR: In the temperature range 600 to 900 kelvin, the AgPbmSbTe2+m material is expected to outperform all reported bulk thermoelectrics, thereby earmarking it as a material system for potential use in efficient thermoeLECTric power generation from heat sources.