High-Efficiency and Stable Thermoelectric Module Based on Liquid-Like Materials

Thermoelectric technology provides an alternative way to utilize fossil energy more efficiently through converting the waste heat from industrial or automobile exhaust gas into electricity. The usual thermoelectric module design only needs to achieve high-energy conversion efficiency. This is not enough for many novel thermoelectric materials with low thermodynamic stability such as liquid-like materials and some Mg/Zn-containing compounds, which may lead to possible module instability during service. Here, we successfully achieve a thermoelectric module based on high-performance liquid-like materials with both good stability and high efficiency up to 9.1%, more than 50% higher than those made by half-Heusler and SiGe. A module's stability is included in the design through tuning the geometry of the legs to ensure that the voltage applied on the liquid-like material is below the threshold for stable usage. This study provides an effective strategy to achieve efficient and stable modules based on various new thermoelectric materials.