Advanced Thermoelectric Materials

**3**

**Chapter 1**

*Saim Memon*

**1. Introduction**

Introductory Chapter:

industrial and domestic energy harvesting applications.

conversion to useful electrical power to a range of applications.

Introduction to Advanced

Thermoelectric Materials for

Energy Harvesting Applications

Due to a cumulative trepidation of global carbon dioxide emissions and balancing the global electricity supply, an advancement into progressive technologies such as thermoelectrics has appeared to be promising [1]. With the fact that enormous amount of radiative heat from the sun, specifically in hot arid climate, and waste heat from electromechanical machines and devices can be harnessed. Over the past three decades, there has been an increasing significance of advancing the thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting applications [2] such as of passive cooling and utilizing the waste heat into useful electrical power, with Seebeck effect, from the automotive exhausts, combined heating and power devices, radiators [3], geothermal steam, electric vehicles and smart grids [4]. Thermoelectric generators have no mechanical moving parts but traditionally have lower efficiencies [5] and they are still in their development stage for the mass production scale for a wider

This book enlightens the design, implementation and thermoelectrical performance of existing and advanced thermoelectric materials for the vast number of energy harvesting applications. The authors lay the framework to emphasis from the quantum theory to the advanced development of the thermoelectric materials and bring attention to the questions of development, performance, evaluation and implementation of the advanced thermoelectric materials in the energy harvesting projects. To optimize the performance and apply thermoelectrics are of the paramount focus on this book. This book also discusses the methodologies and current state-of-the-art research in the field of thermoelectrics for energy conversion and management. The book establishes sustainable energy development goals of harnessing the waste heat energy from appliances, machines and devices and

To appreciate the significance of advancing thermoelectric materials, here in particular the intention is to present the challenges that thermoelectric materials face today. However, thermoelectric material is a semiconducting material of two distinctive metals comprising p-type and n-type materials. These are accepted as the electron transport mechanism from the hot side to the cold side. Here, the Seebeck effect ascertains the characteristics of the materials, their series-parallel connections and of course thermally generated potential difference. So, the outputgenerated voltage with respect to the input (the temperature difference between two dissimilar metals) determines the efficiency and so far the maximum efficiency

## **Chapter 1**
