Phys.org June 24, 2020
The practical efficiency of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) deployed under real environments is still not more than a few percent. A team of researchers in the US (Virginia tech, Penn State) provide fundamental insight on the operation of TEGs in realistic environments by illustrating the combined effect of thermoelectric material properties, device boundary conditions, and environmental thermal resistivity on their performance in conjunction with the module parameters. They demonstrated the existence of a critical heat transfer coefficient that dramatically affects the design and performance of TEGs. The TEGs they demonstrated generated up to 28% higher power and 162% higher power per unit mass of thermoelectric materials. The results provide a set of concrete design criteria for developing efficient TEGs…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Abstract. Credit: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12, 9, 10389–10401, February 10, 2020