Synthesis and performance of large-scale cost-effective environment-friendly nanostructured thermoelectric materials

Abstract

Thermoelectricity is a promising technology that directly converts heat energy into electric-ity and finds its use in enormous applications. This technology can be used for waste heat recovery from automobile exhausts and industrial sectors and convert the heat from solar energy, especially in hot and humid areas such as Qatar. The large-scale, cost-effective commercialization of thermoelectric generators requires the processing and fabrication of nanostructured materials with quick, easy, and inexpensive techniques. Moreover, the methods should be replicable and reproducible, along with stability in terms of electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the TE material. This report summarizes and compares the up-to-date technologies available for batch production of the earth-abundant and ecofriendly materials along with some notorious works in this domain. We have also evaluated and assessed the pros and cons of each technique and its effect on the properties of the materials. The simplicity, time, and cost of each synthesis technique have also been discussed and compared with the conventional methods.