Nanostructured thermoelectric materials: Current research and future challenge

The field of thermoelectrics has long been recognized as a potentially transformative power generation technology and the field is now growing steadily due to their ability to convert heat directly into electricity and to develop cost-effective, pollution-free forms of energy conversion. Of various types of thermoelectric materials, nanostructured materials have shown the most promise for commercial use because of their extraordinary thermoelectric performances. This article aims to summarize the present progress of nanostructured thermoelectrics and intends to understand and explain the underpinnings of the innovative breakthroughs in the last decade or so. We believed that recent achievements will augur the possibility for thermoelectric power generation and cooling, and discuss several future directions which could lead to new exciting next generation of nanostructured thermoelectrics. (c) 2012 Chinese Materials Research Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.