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Advances in Thermoelectric Refrigeration and Power Generation Technology
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Advances in Thermoelectric Refrigeration and Power Generation Technology

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2026 | Viewed by 894

Editors

Prof. Dr. Limei Shen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Interests: thermal management; energy recovery; dehumidification; heat exchanger
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Dongfang Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of energy and power engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China
Interests: solid-state refrigeration; thermal management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Thermoelectric technology, based on the Peltier effect and the Seebeck effect, enables direct conversion between electrical energy and thermal energy, offering unique advantages such as environmental friendliness, no moving parts, fast response, high reliability, and compact structure. At present, thermoelectric cooling has been successfully applied in scenarios such as thermal management of electronic devices, car refrigerators, precision temperature control, PCR instruments, and portable refrigeration equipment. Thermoelectric power generation plays an irreplaceable role in spacecraft radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), industrial waste heat recovery, and specialty power supplies. Benefiting from the continuous breakthroughs in thermoelectric materials, thermoelectric technology is rapidly expanding into emerging fields such as local cooling of robots, thermal management of 5G optical modules, home diagnostic devices, self-powered IoT devices, wearable body heat power generation, and distributed waste heat utilization. In addition, emerging thermoelectric effects such as the spin Seebeck effect, magneto-thermoelectric effects, and transverse thermoelectric effects offer novel approaches to overcome the bottleneck in conventional thermoelectric conversion efficiency. Therefore, this Special Issue urgently calls for more in-depth research in thermoelectric theory, device architecture, design methods, and system integration, in order to drive the evolution of thermoelectric technology toward higher efficiency and broader applications.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances related to the material, theory, design, modeling, system integration, application and control of thermoelectric refrigeration and power generation technologies.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:

  • Thermoelectric materials;
  • Advanced characterization of thermoelectric transport properties;
  • Thermoelectric device design, contact layers, and interface engineering;
  • Applications of thermoelectric devices;
  • Flexible and wearable thermoelectric devices;
  • Thermoelectric system control;
  • The spin Seebeck effect, magneto-thermoelectric, and transverse thermoelectric effects.

Prof. Dr. Limei Shen
Dr. Dongfang Sun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • thermal–electric conversion systems
  • thermoelectric effect
  • thermoelectric device design
  • control of thermoelectric systems
  • thermoelectric refrigeration
  • power generation technology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 4345 KB  
Article
A Flexible Organic Thermoelectric Generator with Optimized Interconnects Based on Doped Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Clays
by Yunxi Cheng, Zhijie Liu, Lihui Cai, Xinchang Kang, Jingda Liu, Jianglin Wang, Zhichun Liu and Limei Shen
Energies 2026, 19(15), 3626; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19153626 - 2 Aug 2026
Viewed by 167
Abstract
Organic thermoelectric generators (OTEGs) are promising for wearable low-grade heat harvesting, but their device-level output is often limited by interconnect-induced losses. This study investigates flexible OTEGs based on doped single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) thermoelectric clays and optimizes their interconnect structure. P-type and n-type [...] Read more.
Organic thermoelectric generators (OTEGs) are promising for wearable low-grade heat harvesting, but their device-level output is often limited by interconnect-induced losses. This study investigates flexible OTEGs based on doped single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) thermoelectric clays and optimizes their interconnect structure. P-type and n-type SWCNT clays were prepared by solution processing using TCNQ and TPP as dopants, respectively, and assembled into a five-pair flexible OTEG. The optimized p-type and n-type clays exhibited Seebeck coefficients of 40.81 and −22.42 μV K−1, respectively. The initial OTEG, in which p-type thermoelectric clay was used as the interconnect, delivered a maximum output power of 16.47 nW at ΔT = 21 K. Replacing this thermoelectric-clay interconnect with a compliant Cu-foil/silver-paste interconnect reduced the internal resistance from approximately 372 Ω to 2 Ω, whereas the open-circuit voltage at ΔT = 21 K increased only modestly from 4.95 to 5.08 mV. Under identical controlled temperature-gradient and load-scanning conditions, the optimized OTEG delivered 3.08 μW at ΔT = 21 K, corresponding to a power density of 356.36 nW cm−2. Mechanical and wrist-worn tests further indicated the flexibility and practical voltage response of the optimized device. These results demonstrate that interconnect optimization is critical for improving SWCNT-clay-based flexible OTEGs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Thermoelectric Refrigeration and Power Generation Technology)
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24 pages, 5146 KB  
Article
Optimization and Prediction of Water-Cooling Conditions for Thermoelectric Waste Heat Recovery
by Zhuang Miao, Xiangning Meng, Pengcheng Shen and Boyang Liang
Energies 2026, 19(12), 2933; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19122933 - 21 Jun 2026
Viewed by 364
Abstract
Industrial waste heat recovery is an important approach for improving energy utilization efficiency and reducing environmental impacts. Thermoelectric devices can directly convert waste heat into electricity, but their practical application is limited by relatively low output power. Active water cooling can enhance the [...] Read more.
Industrial waste heat recovery is an important approach for improving energy utilization efficiency and reducing environmental impacts. Thermoelectric devices can directly convert waste heat into electricity, but their practical application is limited by relatively low output power. Active water cooling can enhance the power generation performance of thermoelectric devices, but the pumping power may reduce the net output power. In this study, a water-cooling thermoelectric device is investigated under constant heat input conditions using three-dimensional numerical simulations and a semi-analytical prediction model. The effects of cooling water inlet temperature and flow rate on the thermal response, electrical output, heat transfer behavior, and net output power are systematically analyzed. The results show that increasing the cooling water flow rate increases the gross electrical power but also increases pumping power, resulting in an optimal flow rate of approximately 3 m/s to maximize the net output power. At inlet temperatures of 24 °C, 28 °C, and 32 °C, the maximum net output powers are 51.46 W, 49.89 W, and 48.68 W, respectively. A prediction model for cooling water input conditions is further developed based on energy balance and convective heat transfer correlations, and the predicted velocities agree with the numerical results with relative errors below 2%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Thermoelectric Refrigeration and Power Generation Technology)
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