Exploiting chemical bonding principles to design high-performance thermoelectric materials.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemistry
• Physics

Background:

• Thermoelectric materials convert waste heat to electricity.
• Traditional materials (e.g., bismuth telluride) use scarce and toxic elements.
• There is a need for high-performance, earth-abundant, and less toxic thermoelectric materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review advances in high-performance thermoelectric material design.
• To explain material design using chemistry concepts accessible to chemists.
• To highlight the role of chemical bonding in thermoelectric performance.

Main Methods:

• Reviewing scientific literature on thermoelectric materials.
• Analyzing material design through chemical bonding principles.
• Discussing concepts like bonding heterogeneity, covalency, and lone pairs.

Main Results:

• Progress in designing high-performance thermoelectric materials is linked to chemical bonding.
• Concepts such as bonding heterogeneity, covalency, and lone pairs influence material properties.
• Various bonding models (multi-centre, metallic, iono-covalent) are relevant.

Conclusions:

• Chemical bonding principles are key to developing new thermoelectric materials.
• Using chemistry concepts makes thermoelectric research more accessible.
• This approach facilitates the discovery of environmentally benign, high-performance thermoelectric materials.