Heat transport with phonons and electrons and efficiency of thermoelectric generators

© 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Alternative power sources based on energy harvesting are promising candidates to substitute batteries due to their ability to extract power from the environment or secondary processes, as well as to attain fully autonomous systems without periodical human intervention. Thermoelectric energy harvesters have received special attention in recent years, due to the large amount of residual heat yielding from the current energy generation technology based on fossil fuels and from solar heating. Thermoelectric devices offer an attractive source of energy since they do not have moving parts, do not create pollution, do not make noise.