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Chin. Phys. B, 2022, Vol. 31(4): 047204    DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac5609
Special Issue: TOPICAL REVIEW — Progress in thermoelectric materials and devices
TOPICAL REVIEW—Progress in thermoelectric materials and devices Prev   Next  

Micro thermoelectric devices: From principles to innovative applications

Qiulin Liu(刘求林)1,2, Guodong Li(李国栋)1,3,†, Hangtian Zhu(朱航天)1, and Huaizhou Zhao(赵怀周)1,2,3,‡
1 Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
2 School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
3 Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan 523808, China
Abstract  Thermoelectric devices (TEDs), including thermoelectric generators (TEGs) and thermoelectric coolers (TECs) based on the Seebeck and Peltier effects, respectively, are capable of converting heat directly into electricity and vice versa. Tough suffering from low energy conversion efficiency and relatively high capital cost, TEDs have found niche applications, such as the remote power source for spacecraft, solid-state refrigerators, waste heat recycling, and so on. In particular, on-chip integrable micro thermoelectric devices (μ-TEDs), which can realize local thermal management, on-site temperature sensing, and energy harvesting under minor temperature gradient, could play an important role in biological sensing and cell cultivation, self-powered Internet of Things (IoT), and wearable electronics. In this review, starting from the basic principles of thermoelectric devices, we summarize the most critical parameters for μ-TEDs, design guidelines, and most recent advances in the fabrication process. In addition, some innovative applications of μ-TEDs, such as in combination with microfluidics and photonics, are demonstrated in detail.
Keywords:  thermoelectric microdevices      contact impedance      local temperature control      energy harvesting  
Received:  19 December 2021      Revised:  10 February 2022      Accepted manuscript online:  17 February 2022
PACS:  72.20.Pa (Thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects)  
  81.15.-z (Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy)  
  68.55.-a (Thin film structure and morphology)  
Fund: The authors acknowledge the funding support of the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFA0702100) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52172259). We thank Jiawei Yang and Nan Chen for valuable discussions.
Corresponding Authors:  Guodong Li, Huaizhou Zhao     E-mail:  gdli@iphy.ac.cn;hzhao@iphy.ac.cn

Cite this article: 

Qiulin Liu(刘求林), Guodong Li(李国栋), Hangtian Zhu(朱航天), and Huaizhou Zhao(赵怀周) Micro thermoelectric devices: From principles to innovative applications 2022 Chin. Phys. B 31 047204

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