Enhanced Model for the Analysis of Thermoelectric Effects at Nanoscale: Onsager’s Method and Liu’s Technique in Comparison

Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold. From the practical point of view, an enhanced model for the description of thermoelectric effects at nanoscale is proposed. From the theoretical point of view, instead, in the particular case of the proposed model, the equivalence between two classical techniques for the exploitation of the second law of thermodynamics is shown, i.e., Onsager’s method and Liu’s technique. An analysis of the heat-wave propagation is performed as well.