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Improving the Efficiency of Thin Film Thermoelectric Generators under Constant Heat Flux by Using Substrates of Low Thermal Conductivity
Author(s) -
Morales Carlos,
Flores Eduardo,
Ares José R.,
Sánchez Carlos,
Ferrer Isabel J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201800277
Subject(s) - thermoelectric generator , materials science , thermoelectric effect , thermal conductivity , heat flux , thin film , thermoelectric materials , thermal , seebeck coefficient , substrate (aquarium) , thermoelectric cooling , optoelectronics , composite material , heat transfer , thermodynamics , nanotechnology , physics , oceanography , geology
Thin film thermoelectric generators performance needs to be improved to be competitive with their bulk counterpartners. Here, a method has been proposed to enhance the efficiency of non‐conventional thin film thermoelectric generators, i.e., those with heat running parallel to the film surface, under constant heat flux configuration. This geometry offers the possibility to decouple the thermal and electronic transport via an adequate selection of the film and substrate thermal conductivities and their respective thicknesses. An analysis of those parameters and their relationships in order to reach the maximum thin film thermoelectric generators efficiency is presented in this work. It has been concluded that under well‐established conditions, the thin film thermoelectric generators efficiency is clearly increased and becomes comparable to that of the bulk thermoelectric generators under constant heat flux. This novel framework can lead to the use of devices based on compounds with high power factor regardless of their thermal conductivity.