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A roadmap for molecular thermoelectricity

Nature Nanotechnology volume 16, pages 1299–1301 (2021)Cite this article

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Molecules have the potential to act as sharp energy filters for electrical currents and could thereby outperform other materials considered for thermoelectric energy conversion. Yet, there is a gap between theoretical predictions and practical implementations in molecular thermoelectricity, and this research roadmap may guide the transition from academic research to valuable technology.

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Fig. 1: Working principle of molecular junctions for thermoelectric applications.
Fig. 2: Simple depiction of the use areas and constraints of molecular thermal energy converters (TECs) for harvesting (left) and cooling (right) applications.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge funding by the European Commission H2020-FETOPEN projects ‘EFINED’, grant agreement no. 766853, and ‘QuIET’, grant agreement no. 767187. This document reflects the opinion of the authors and not necessarily the opinion of the IBM corporation, the EU commission or the QuIET and EFINED consortium members.

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  1. IBM Research Europe – Zurich, Rueschlikon, Switzerland

    Andrea Gemma & Bernd Gotsmann

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  1. Andrea Gemma
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  2. Bernd Gotsmann
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Correspondence to Bernd Gotsmann.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Nanotechnology thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Gemma, A., Gotsmann, B. A roadmap for molecular thermoelectricity. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 1299–1301 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-01012-0

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