Materials Aspect of Thermoelectricity

In recent years, novel families of materials have been discovered and major improvements in the classical thermoelectric materials have been made. Thermoelectric generators are being used to harvest waste industrial heat and convert it into the most portable forms of energy which is electricity. This is utilized in communal incinerators (Japan), large smelters, and cement plants. Major car and truck companies are developing thermoelectric power generators to collect heat from the exhaust systems of gasoline and diesel engines. Additionally, thermoelectric coolers are utilized in a variety of picnic boxes, vessel used to transport transplant organs, and in air-conditioned seats of mid-size cars. It is thus appropriate to collect, in a new volume, the major advancements made in the material aspects of thermoelectricity and provide their critical assessment in regards to the broadening of application opportunities for thermoelectric energy conversion.

"Materials Aspect of Thermoelectricity" consists of twenty chapters written by top researchers who were directly involved with the respective areas of research. This text focuses on the material aspects of recent developments, as this area is evolving very rapidly and, potentially, which could have an immense impact on the entire field of thermoelectricity.

• Provides a detailed account of novel thermoelectric materials
• Informs the reader about the materials aspect of each family of thermoelectric materials
• Contains chapters written by the leading experts in the field
• Serves as a timely addition to the steadily growing field of thermoelectrics
• Written by leading experts in the field

Preface

Chapter 1 : Tetrahedrites and Other Natural Mineral-Based Thermoelectrics
Chapter 2 : Mosaic Crystals for Thermoelectricity
Chapter 3 : Low Dimenstional Thermoelectric Materials
Chapter 4 : Bi2Te3-based Thin Films
Chapter 5 : Thermoelectric Nanowires
Chapter 6 : Thermoelectric Properties of Graphene and Carbon Nanotubes
Chapter 7 : Organic Thermoelectric Materials
Chapter 8 : Recent Progress with Skutterudites
Chapter 9 : Efficient Half-Heusler Thermoelectrics
Chapter 10 : SnTe-based Materials
Chapter 11 : Magnesium Silicide-based Materials
Chapter 12 : Cu2Se Materials
Chapter 13 : Oxide Thermoelectrics
Chapter 14 : Modified Chalcogenides
Chapter 15 : TITe-based Materials
Chapter 16 : Novel Layered Materials
Chapter 17 : Recent Advances in Clathrate-based Thermoelectrics
Chapter 18 : Progress in Si-Ge Thermoelectric Materials
Chapter 19 : Materials for Cooling Applications
Chapter 20 : High Temperature Thermoelectric Materials
Chapter 21 : Thermoelectrics Based on Intermetallic Compounds

Index