Thermoelectric Materials for Waste Heat Recovery and Flexible Power Generation
This research community develops materials and devices that convert temperature differences into electricity, primarily to harvest waste heat from industrial processes, vehicles, and wearable electronics.
The work centers on optimizing the figure of merit in semiconductors like bismuth telluride, tin selenide, and lead telluride. Researchers focus on reducing lattice thermal conductivity through grain boundary engineering, nanostructuring, and alloying, while maintaining high electrical power factors. A significant strand of the research involves fabricating these materials into thin films and flexible substrates, using techniques like direct-ink printing and polymer composites, to enable wearable generators and conformable sensors. Other efforts target specific applications such as thermoelectric cooling, room-temperature power generation, and the integration of thermoelectric modules into larger energy systems.
The community represents 20.7% of all tellurium research, 7.0% of bismuth research, and 3.2% of antimony research. Tellurium is also the element with the highest paper count within this group, with 4,044 papers.
The community comprises 15,564 papers, published primarily in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Journal of Applied Physics, and Applied Physics Letters.
Recent work includes extending the temperature range of tin selenide phases, optimizing non-contact generator performance, and developing nature-inspired wearable devices for body heat harvesting.
Papers behind this description
- Grid-plainification enables medium-temperature PbSe thermoelectrics to cool better than Bi 2 Te 3 — Science, 2024 — doi:10.1126/science.adk9589
- High figure-of-merit and power generation in high-entropy GeTe-based thermoelectrics — Science, 2022 — doi:10.1126/science.abq5815
- Room-temperature exceptional plasticity in defective Bi 2 Te 3 -based bulk thermoelectric crystals — Science, 2024 — doi:10.1126/science.adr8450
- Flexible power generators by Ag2Se thin films with record-high thermoelectric performance — Nature Communications, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45092-7
- Harvesting waste heat with flexible Bi2Te3 thermoelectric thin film — Nature Sustainability, 2022 — doi:10.1038/s41893-022-01003-6
- Flexible thermoelectrics based on ductile semiconductors — Science, 2022 — doi:10.1126/science.abq0682
- Thermoelectric porous laser-induced graphene-based strain-temperature decoupling and self-powered sensing — Nature Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41467-024-55790-x
- Comfortable wearable thermoelectric generator with high output power — Nature Communications, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41467-024-52841-1
- Extending the temperature range of the Cmcm phase of SnSe for high thermoelectric performance — Science, 2025 — doi:10.1126/science.adt0831
- Influence weights of key parameters and optimization strategies for non-contact thermoelectric generator performance enhancement — Energy, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.energy.2025.139120
- Nature-inspired wearable thermoelectric generator for body heat harvesting — Energy, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.energy.2025.138899
- Performance comparison and optimization of thermoelectric generator systems with/without stepped-configuration — Energy, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.energy.2025.137924
- High-energy density micro swirl combustion powered thermoelectric generator for combined heat and power supply — Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.tsep.2025.104369
- Parameter interaction analysis and comprehensive performance optimization of a thermoelectric generator system integrating a wide temperature range of thermoelectric modules — Energy Conversion and Management, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120027