Thermoelectric Coolers: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities

Abstract

Owing to the free of noise, mechanical component, working fluid, and chemical reaction, thermoelectric cooling is regarded as a suitable solution to address the greenhouse emission for the broad cooling scenarios. Here, the significant progress of state‐of‐the‐art thermoelectric coolers is comprehensively summarized and the related aspects of materials, fundamental design, heat sinks, and structures, are overviewed. Particularly, the usage of thermoelectric coolers in smart city, greenhouse, and personal and chip thermal management is highlighted. In the end, current challenges and future opportunities for further improvement of designs, performance, and applications of thermoelectric coolers are pointed out.

Multifunctional Wearable Thermoelectrics for Personal Thermal Management

“…In the practical application of thermoelectric PTM, the heat can accumulate at the hot side. [ 25,107 ] Additionally, effective skin temperature control also requires fast and sufficient heat exchange between the human skin and the thermoelectric PTM. Overcoming these heat dissipation challenges requires proper external heat sink design.…”

“…In the practical application of thermoelectric PTM, the heat can accumulate at the hot side. [25,107] Additionally, effective Figure 6. zT at near room-temperature (≈300 K) of the state-of-the-art a) nonflexible [80][81][82][84][85][87][88][89][90]106] and b) flexible thermoelectric materials.…”

“…Overcoming these heat dissipation challenges requires proper external heat sink design. [25,107] Heat sinks can be generally categorized into conventional metal heat sinks [9,108] and flexible heat sinks. [109][110][111] As one key requirement of thermoelectric PTM is the wearability and flexibility, flexible heat sink is preferred.…”

“…Comparing other PTM technologies, [ 23,24 ] such as radiative cooling, [ 18 ] Joule heating, [ 19 ] piezoelectrics, [ 20 ] and triboelectrics, [ 21 ] the thermoelectric technology, with the capacity of reversible heat and electricity conversion, [ 8,25 ] is the only technology that can simultaneously realize personal thermoregulation and energy harvesting. However, current PTM systems are generally designed based on radiative cooling, [ 18 ] Joule heating, [ 19 ] piezoelectrics, [ 20 ] and triboelectrics technologies, [ 21 ] due to their simplicity.…”

“…[21] Experimentally, the employment of advanced PTM can effectively decrease the target temperature of centralized HVAC system and significantly reduce the energy consumption, where ≈3 °C additional target temperature fluctuation can reduce 29% of overall energy consumption. [22] Comparing other PTM technologies, [23,24] such as radiative cooling, [18] Joule heating, [19] piezoelectrics, [20] and triboelectrics, [21] the thermoelectric technology, with the capacity of reversible heat and electricity conversion, [8,25] is the only technology that can simultaneously realize personal thermoregulation and energy harvesting. However, current PTM systems are generally designed based on radiative cooling, [18] Joule heating, [19] piezoelectrics, [20] and triboelectrics technologies, [21] due to their simplicity.…”