Design of metamaterial thermoelectric generators for efficient energy harvesting

• Integrating 2D metamaterial designs into TEGs can lead to an approximate 100% enhancement in power output. • 2D triangular honeycomb and BCC structures outperform other configurations due to their superior thermal diffusion properties and low internal resistance. • Increasing the porosity of metastructures plays a dual role in enhancing thermoelectric output power. • Increasing the UCN improves the output power of the 2D design but has no effect on the BCC structure. Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are widely recognized as clean energy solutions that can convert low-grade waste heat into electricity through a temperature gradient. Despite their significant potential, challenges such as low conversion efficiency and high costs have limited their practical applications. In this paper, we present an innovative metamaterial design concept for TEGs with significantly improved efficiency. A Finite Element Model is validated using Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 bulk samples fabricated via the drop-cast method. This model can predict open-circuit voltage and output power as a function of an arbitrary metamaterial design using the commercial software ANSYS®. Four different metastructure designs, including 2D Triangular Honeycomb, Re-entrant, body-centered cubic (BCC), and triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures, are systematically investigated. Through experiments and numerical analysis, the effects of annealing temperature, porosity, and unit cell numbers (UCNs) on the performance of TE legs are explored. It is found that 2D Triangular Honeycomb and BCC structures outperform other configurations due to their capacity to maintain a higher thermal gradient. Optimizing their porosity and UCNs can further enhance the output power. Compared to the traditional designs with bulk TE legs, implementing a 2D metastructure design with 30 % porosity and UCNs of 4 × 4 × 4 can lead to approximately a 100 % increase in power output.