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Description:
Thermoelectric materials can, reversibly and without any moving parts, convert thermal energy into electrical energy by coupling an entropic and an electrical flux with each other. This ability is becoming increasingly important in concerns of a growing energy demand of the world, sustainability and climate change. The material class of thermoelectric oxides can play an important role in waste heat harvesting from industrial processes and power plants. On the basis of advantageous properties of oxides in the high-temperature range under oxidizing atmosphere, an application in electrical power generation from infinite heat sources seems promising. The thermoelectric research is a highly interdisciplinary field of study, which consists of solid state chemistry and solid state physics, when synthesizing new materials and measuring their properties. In addition, thermoelectric research is also a matter of process and electrical engineering, when p- and n-type materials are assembled to a thermoelectric generator and its power characteristic is estimated. Material classes like alloys, tellurides, half-Heusler or Zintl phases such as Bi2Te3, PbTe-PbS, SiGe, SnSe, FeNbSb and Yb14MnSb11, possess significantly improved thermoelectric properties, especially in the low- to mid-temperature range under inert or reducing atmosphere. But these material classes show inferior stability in the high-temperature range under oxidizing conditions, are toxic, or consist of expensive and rare elements. Concerning the thermoelectric figure-of-merit zT, oxides can not compete with other material classes. For this reason, research on oxides should focus on improving the thermoelectric power factor in the high-temperature range in air. Furthermore, the field of application of materials and conditions under which these are applied should be critically discussed. For the scenario of application of a limited heat source and if a maximized conversion efficiency should be obtained, a high-zT material is desirable. However, for the case of an ...