Thermoelectric (TE) materials have attracted the attention of many researchers due to their potential applications in power generation, refrigeration, and thermal sensing. Power generation using highly efficient TE devices to convert waste thermal energy into useful electrical energy and realize low-carbon transformation is an important direction in TE field. With the vigorous development of nanotechnology in the 21st century, the rapid development of TE composites has been directly promoted, and various high-performance TE materials have been reported in recent years. Low-cost and high-performance materials will cause great changes in TE conversion efficiency. Therefore, the more urgent task now is to develop cost-effective and high-performance TE materials and construct high-efficiency TE devices to improve the circulation efficiency in Kano, which will potentially cause a major revolution in future waste heat energy reuse and environmental protection. In addition to strict energy and carbon emissions requirements, the blooming development in 5G-based technology, e.g., the Internet of Things (IoT), will require TEG technology to power autonomous sensors and devices and spot cooling on the ever-transmitting 5G electronics and transmitters. Therefore, cost-effective advanced TE materials have promising applications, and their future development requires advances in material synthesis and innovations in device fabrication.
However, the current research on the construction of TE devices lags far behind the development of TE materials. There is no doubt that the practical application of TE technology is imminent, such as the environmental applicability, safety, affordable and thermal stability of TE devices based on non-traditional TE materials have severely limited the pace of their commercialization. Therefore, to better promote the development of the application of TE materials in energy conversion, a Research Topic on “Cost-effective Advanced Materials for High-Efficiency Thermoelectric Devices” has been launched in Frontiers in Chemistry.
This Research Topic aims to collate high-quality papers about the rational design of advanced TE composites for energy harvesting applications and TE device fabrications, which aims to provide a platform to promote up-to-date research and share promising ideas in the related TE fields. Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspectives describing the state of the art, are all welcome. Potential topics include but are not limited to:
• Solid-state reaction and solution-processed synthesis;
• Surface chemistry and surface modification;
• Bottom-up engineering;
• Inorganic materials;
• Organic conducting polymers;
• Molecular complexes;
• Advanced structured materials;
• 2D layered materials, such as SnSe, SnS, Bi2Te3-based, etc.;
• Nanomaterials and nanocomposites;
• Bulk materials;
• Flexible thin films;
• Wearable thermoelectric devices;
• Thermoelectric generators.
Keywords: semiconductors; advanced materials; thermoelectric composites; flexible thin films; thermoelectric devices
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
