Prospects of Creation of High Efficiency Thermoelectric Energy Converters Made from Nanopowders of Semicomductor Materials

Abstract

Thermoelectric energy converters (TECs) are used in many scientific and technical devices and systems, as elec­tric generators that convert the heat into the electric energy and as cooling devices that convert the electric energy into the cold or heat. TECs have the best all parameters among existing traditional energy converters, excluding only one parameter. They have by 2—3 times lower values of energy conversion efficiency. Theoretical and ex­perimental investigations show that transition to semiconductor structures with characteristic dimensions of 5— 100 nm open the way to increase TEC coefficient of performance by 2.5—6.0 times. The most prospective way of creation of high efficiency and inexpensive TECs is development of low dimension structures made from na­nopowders of different semiconductor materials. Keywords: thermoelectric energy converters, nanostructured thermoelectric materials, nanopowders.