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Thermoelectric cooling materials

Nature Materials volume 20, pages 454–461 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Solid-state thermoelectric devices can directly convert electricity into cooling or enable heat pumping through the Peltier effect. The commercialization of thermoelectric cooling technology has been built on the Bi2Te3 alloys, which have had no rival for the past six decades around room temperature. With the discovery and development of more promising materials, it is possible to reshape thermoelectric cooling technology. Here we review the current status of, and future outlook for, thermoelectric cooling materials.

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Fig. 1: Thermoelectric cooling performance.
Fig. 2: Thermoelectric cooling materials.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Z. Liu and Z. Liang for discussions. Z.R. acknowledges the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and K. Nielsch at IFW Dresden in Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Jun Mao & Zhifeng Ren

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Gang Chen

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Correspondence to Zhifeng Ren.

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Mao, J., Chen, G. & Ren, Z. Thermoelectric cooling materials. Nat. Mater. 20, 454–461 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-00852-w

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