Recent Progress on Thermoelectric Materials and Modules

Thermoelectric modules based on thermoelectric materials can either generate cooling/heating using electrical power or electrical power from heat. Thermoelectric property improvement of materials is only the first step for thermoelectric modules for a variety of applications. How to make efficient modules is equally important as the materials improvement. The thermoelectric properties of the traditional materials are not good enough to make efficient modules to compete with the traditional coolers using compressor or steam engines. However, in the past fifteen years, we have been able to not only achieve some good progress on improving the thermoelectric properties of the traditional materials but also discover new materials with better properties and lower cost. At the same time, thermoelectric modules have also been improved for record-breaking cooling and power generation performances due to the advance in module fabrication. In this talk, I will present some of the advances in both the materials and devices.