iScience· 2026Q1
Materials design strategies for green thermoelectric generators enabling sustainable and scalable energy harvesting
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A new design framework for green thermoelectric generators (TEGs) integrates material abundance, process energy, solvent/waste burden, device lifetime, manufacturability, and circularity to enable sustainable energy harvesting.
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Key points
- Current high-ZT thermoelectric materials often rely on scarce, toxic, or difficult-to-recycle elements.
- Green thermoelectric design is viewed as a coupled materials, process, device, and life cycle problem.
- Aqueous processing, bio-assisted synthesis, hydrothermal methods, electrochemical deposition, and printable processing are key green techniques.
- The proposed design framework integrates material abundance, process energy, solvent/waste burden, device lifetime, manufacturability, and circularity.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) harvest low-grade heat without moving parts and can be integrated into compact, flexible, or distributed systems. Progress in this field is typically measured through figure of merit, ZT , and the power factor, yet materials with high ZT often depend on scarce elements, toxic precursors, high-temperature processing, or difficult end-of-life recovery-considerations that matter for technologies intended to support sustainable energy systems. This perspective examines green thermoelectric design as a coupled materials, process, device, and life cycle problem, considering how aqueous processing, bio-assisted synthesis, hydrothermal methods, electrochemical deposition, and printable processing shape microstructure, defect chemistry, and charge-heat transport in conductive polymers, carbon nanotube hybrids, biomass-derived carbons, recycled inorganic compounds, and ionic thermoelectric systems. We propose a design framework that combines material abundance, process energy, solvent and waste burden, device lifetime, manufacturability, and circularity, and identify where environmentally responsible TEGs can deliver useful power with lower total burden.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. iScience, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Materials Chemistry
Materials ChemistryMaterials Science