Thermoelectric energy harvesting with nanomaterials

The current challenges of coping with ever-increasing energy consumption world-wide necessitate efforts to find sustainable resources. This paradigm shift has to take place alongside the quest for more efficient ways of saving the energy wasted in industrial facilities and domestic applications. In this context, research into thermoelectricity explores the possibility of benefiting from dissipated energy and making devices less energy demanding. Achieving the goal of efficient heat-to-electricity conversion requires materials with strongly suppressed thermal conductivity but high electronic conduction. In this chapter, we present an overview of the key experimental and theoretical results related to the basics of thermoelectric nanomaterials. The focus is placed on the physical mechanisms by which the efficiency of nanomaterials can be improved.