Nanostructural thermoelectric materials and their performance

Abstract

In this review, an attempt was made to introduce the traditional concepts and materials in thermoelectric application and the recent development in searching high-performance thermoelectric materials. Due to the use of nanostructural engineering, thermoelectric materials with a high figure of merit are designed, leading to their blooming application in the energy field. One dimensional nanotubes and nanoribbons, two-dimensional planner structures, nanocomposites, and heterostructures were summarized. In addition, the state-of-the-art theoretical calculation in the prediction of thermoelectric materials was also reviewed, including the molecular dynamics (MD), Boltzmann transport equation, and non-equilibrium Green’s function. The combination of experimental fabrication and first-principles prediction significantly promotes the discovery of new promising candidates in the thermoelectric field.

Keywords

nanostructural / low-dimensional / thermoelectric material / figure of merit / first-principles

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Acknowledgments

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51676212) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities are gratefully acknowledged.

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