Advanced Thermoelectrics

This book provides an overview on nanostructured thermoelectric materials and devices, covering fundamental concepts, synthesis techniques, device contacts and stability, and potential applications, especially in waste heat recovery and solar energy conversion. The contents focus on thermoelectric devices made from nanomaterials with high thermoelectric efficiency for use in large scale to generate megawatts electricity. Covers the latest discoveries, methods, technologies in materials, contacts, modules, and systems for thermoelectricity. Addresses practical details of how to improve the efficiency and power output of a generator by optimizing contacts and electrical conductivity. Gives tips on how to realize a realistic and usable device or module with attention to large scale industry synthesis and product development. Prof. Zhifeng Ren is M. D. Anderson Professor in the Department of Physics and the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston. Prof. Yucheng Lan is an associate professor in Morgan State University. Prof. Qinyong Zhang is a professor in the Center for Advanced Materials and Energy at Xihua University of China.

This book provides an overview on nanostructured thermoelectric materials and devices, covering fundamental concepts, synthesis techniques, device contacts and stability, and potential applications, especially in waste heat recovery and solar energy conversion. The contents focus on thermoelectric devices made from nanomaterials with high thermoelectric efficiency for use in large scale to generate megawatts electricity. Covers the latest discoveries, methods, technologies in materials, contacts, modules, and systems for thermoelectricity. Addresses practical details of how to improve the efficiency and power output of a generator by optimizing contacts and electrical conductivity. Gives tips on how to realize a realistic and usable device or module with attention to large scale industry synthesis and product development. Prof. Zhifeng Ren is M. D. Anderson Professor in the Department of Physics and the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston. Prof. Yucheng Lan is an associate professor in Morgan State University. Prof. Qinyong Zhang is a professor in the Center for Advanced Materials and Energy at Xihua University of China.

Your guide to advanced thermoelectric materials Written by a distinguished group of contributors, this book provides comprehensive coverage of the most up-to-date information on all aspects of advanced thermoelectric materials — ranging from system biology, diagnostics, imaging, image-guided therapy, therapeutics, biosensors, and translational medicine and personalized medicine, as well as the much broader task of covering most topics of biomedical research.

Thermoelectricity and Advanced Thermoelectric Materials reviews emerging thermoelectric materials, including skutterudites, clathrates, and half-Heusler alloys. In addition, the book discusses a number of oxides and silicides that have promising thermoelectric properties. Because 2D materials with high figures of merit have emerged as promising candidates for thermoelectric applications, this book presents an updated introduction to the field of thermoelectric materials, including recent advances in materials synthesis, device modeling, and design. Finally, the book addresses the theoretical difficulties and methodologies of computing the thermoelectric properties of materials that can be used to understand and predict highly efficient thermoelectric materials. This book is a key reference for materials scientists, physicists, and engineers in energy. Reviews the most relevant, emerging thermoelectric materials, including 2D materials, skutterudites, clathrates and half-Heusler alloys Focuses on how electronic structure engineering can lead to improved materials performance for thermoelectric energy conversion applications Includes the latest advances in the synthesis, modeling and design of advanced thermoelectric materials

Advanced Thermoelectric Materials for Energy Harvesting Applications is a research-intensive textbook covering the fundamentals of thermoelectricity and the process of converting heat energy into electrical energy. It covers the design, implementation, and performance of existing and advanced thermoelectric materials. Chapters examine such topics as organic/inorganic thermoelectric materials, performance and behaviors of thermoelectric devices, and energy harvesting applications of thermoelectric devices.

The field of thermoelectricity has continued to develop rapidly in recent years and remains one of the most exciting areas of research for a materials physicist. The need for sustainable energy has added a technological momentum to the challenge of devising materials with exceptional properties such as low thermal conductivity, high electrical conductivity and a large Seebeck coefficient, and has triggered a global, interdisciplinary effort. More recently, research on thermoelectric materials has promoted and motivated a major research endeavor to clarify the factors affecting thermal conductivity in nanostructures as part of a more general effort to apply nanotechnology to enhance the performance of thermoelectric materials for use in thermoelectric generators and coolers. This book contains the lectures presented as Course 207 of the International School of Physics Enrico Fermi, Advances in Thermoelectricity: Foundational Issues, Materials, and Nanotechnology, held in Varenna, Italy from 15 – 20 July 2019. This comprehensive course aimed to provide students with a modern vision of the physics of thermoelectric phenomena, starting from the thermodynamics of thermoelectricity and from the physics of transport processes and demonstrating how material structure and nanostructure, together with defects, have been used to tailor the physical properties of advanced thermoelectrics. Special attention was also given to areas of current research – from spin-caloritronics to charge transport in polymers – and to a selected number of applications for heat recovery. Encompassing the full complexity of modern thermoelectricity and covering the most cogent themes relevant to current research, the book will be of interest to all those working in the field.

Thermoelectric Materials and Devices summarizes the latest research achievements over the past 20 years of thermoelectric material and devices, most notably including new theory and strategies of thermoelectric materials design and the new technology of device integration. The book's author has provided a bridge between the knowledge of basic physical/chemical principles and the fabrication technology of thermoelectric materials and devices, providing readers with research and development strategies for high performance thermoelectric materials and devices. It will be a vital resource for graduate students, researchers and technologists working in the field of energy conversion and the development of thermoelectric devices. Discusses the new theory and methods of thermoelectric materials design Combines scientific principles, along with synthesis and fabrication technologies in thermoelectric materials Presents the design optimization and interface technology for thermoelectric devices Introduces thermoelectric polymers and organic-inorganic thermoelectric composites

Comprising two volumes, Thermoelectrics and Its Energy Harvesting reviews the dramatic improvements in technology and application of thermoelectric energy with a specific intention to reduce and reuse waste heat and improve novel techniques for the efficient acquisition and use of energy. This volume, Modules, Systems and Applications in Thermoelectrics, discusses the practical, novel, and truly groundbreaking applications of thermoelectrics in a range of markets. The book details the U.S. interest in alternative energy and energy harvesting, specifically, the current efforts to use thermoelectric generators (TGs) to reduce emissions. Internationally, it expounds on the strong interest in Japan, Korea and Europe to incorporate TGs in cars to reduce fuel consumption and meet EU carbon dioxide emission targets; the European plans to build an isotopic powered thermoelectric generator; and India’s use of TG s in converting hot water from steel mills into electricity.