ABSTRACT
In a thermoelectricmaterial, heat can be transported or used to generate electricity based on the Peltier and
Seebeck effects. The efficiency of a thermoelectric device is traditionally described in terms of the extensive
or system parameters such as hot-and cold-side temperature, length and area of thermoelectric element,
and applied voltage or load resistance. In only the most simplified cases (e.g., temperature-independent
thermoelectric properties) can this efficiency be computed analytically, where it can be shown that the
thermoelectric figure-of-merit z is the intensive
material property of prime importance (see Chapter 1, 2,
and 11).
