Comprehensive Review of Heat Transfer in Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

Abstract

Solid-state thermoelectric devices are currently used in applications ranging from thermocouple sensors to power generators in satellites, to portable air-conditioners and refrigerators. With the ever-rising demand throughout the world for energy consumption and CO 2 reduction, thermoelectric energy conversion has been receiving intensified attention as a potential candidate for waste-heat harvesting as well as for power generation from renewable sources. Efficient thermoelectric energy conversion critically depends on the performance of thermoelectric materials and devices. In this review, we discuss heat transfer in thermoelectric materials and devices, especially phonon engineering to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity of thermoelectric materials, which requires a fundamental understanding of nanoscale heat conduction physics.

First-principles calculations of thermal, electrical, and thermoelectric transport properties of semiconductors

“…We first examine the thermal transport properties. Some previous review papers have discussed the first-principles calculations of the thermal conductivity, mainly for illustrating the power and accuracy of the first-principles methods [70,71], by comparing with the experimental data. In the following our discussions will specifically focus on the column IV and III-V semiconductors.…”

Ab initio electronic transport and thermoelectric properties of solids from full and range-separated hybrid functionals

“…A large power factor (σS 2 ) means efficiency in the heat-electricity conversion, while a small thermal conductivity is required to maintain a temperature gradient and reduce conduction heat losses. 2,3 As mentioned above, for the purpose of in silico characterization of crystalline solids there is much interest in obtaining an estimate of conductivity and thermoelectric power of materials. ab initio or first principles methods, such as provided by Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory (DFT), are widely accepted as the best compromise between cost and accuracy.…”

Diffusion of elastic waves in a two dimensional continuum with a random distribution of screw dislocations

“…The diffusion of elastic waves, albeit in their quantized form, phonons, is central to thermal transport in materials, a topic of much current concern. Yet, surprisingly little appears to be quantitatively known about the role played by the interaction of elastic waves with dislocations [36] in thermal transport. It stands to reason then that a detailed study of the diffusive behavior of elastic waves in interaction with many, randomly placed, dislocations, should be undertaken.…”