title: Multi-Scale Microstructural Thermoelectric Materials: Transport Behavior, Non-Equilibrium Preparation, and Applications.
abstract: Considering only about one third of the world's energy consumption is effectively utilized for functional uses, and the remaining is dissipated as waste heat, thermoelectric (TE) materials, which offer a direct and clean thermal-to-electric conversion pathway, have generated a tremendous worldwide interest. The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable development in TE materials. This Review summarizes the efforts devoted to the study of non-equilibrium synthesis of TE materials with multi-scale structures, their transport behavior, and areas of applications. Studies that work towards the ultimate goal of developing highly efficient TE materials possessing multi-scale architectures are highlighted, encompassing the optimization of TE performance via engineering the structures with different dimensional aspects spanning from the atomic and molecular scales, to nanometer sizes, and to the mesoscale. In consideration of the practical applications of high-performance TE materials, the non-equilibrium approaches offer a fast and controllable fabrication of multi-scale microstructures, and their scale up to industrial-size manufacturing is emphasized here. Finally, the design of two integrated power generating TE systems are described-a solar thermoelectric-photovoltaic hybrid system and a vehicle waste heat harvesting system-that represent perhaps the most important applications of thermoelectricity in the energy conversion area.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.|Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Xianli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yonggao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chuqi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Changjun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wenyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Pengcheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qingjie
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xinfeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Ctirad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uher
keywords: multi-scale microstructures; non-equilibrium preparation; power generation; thermoelectric materials