ABSTRACT
The energy demand has been continually increasing all over the world; however, over 60" of the energy obtained from primary sources is converted into waste heat across all fields, including industry, agriculture, and everyday life. Thus, various alternative energy saving/harvesting technologies, which would allow efficient reuse of waste heat are attracting significant attention. Generally, TE modules are fabricated by bonding p- and n-type thermoelectric (TE) materials into a p pattern, which is subsequently sandwiched between ceramic plates. Nanostructured bulk TE materials are typically manufactured via two routes. The first route corresponds to the bulk formation due to fabrication and consolidation of fine nanocrystals, while the second route occurs via natural precipitation of nanoscale particles. The top-down process is very efficient and has been applied to the synthesis of various TE materials including Si, BiSbTe, and Si-Ge alloys.
