Overview of semiconductor thermoelectric power generation technology

Semi-conducting thermoelectric power generation is a new way to convert thermal energy directly into electric energy, that is, it can generate a dc voltage at the two ends of two semiconductors with different properties by adding a temperature difference. And it has many excellent characteristics such as no noise, long life, no pollution, no maintenance, stable performance. It can reasonably use low-grade energy, such as geothermal energy, solar energy, industrial waste heat, and convert them into electricity to improve energy efficiency. At the same time, it can also be widely used in instruments, toy manufacturing, tourism, small household appliances and other portable occasions and even aerospace. Therefore, it has a very wide application prospect. This paper mainly introduces the principle of semiconductor thermoelectric power generation, reviews the research progress and current situation of semiconductor thermoelectric power generation technology at home and abroad, and then analyzes the main factors affecting the improvement of its power generation efficiency, as well as the analysis of the problem that the service life of thermoelectric components is short, reliability is not high and so on. At the same time, the future research direction of semiconductor thermoelectric power generation technology is prospected.