Enhancing the Performance of Oxide‐Based Transverse Thermoelectric Generators by Optimized Internal Geometry

Abstract In transverse thermoelectric generators (TTEGs), comprising an artificially anisotropic material formed by a layered and tilted structure of two materials, the induced thermoelectric voltage is generated perpendicular to the applied temperature gradient. The performance of TTEGs composed of alternate layers of La 1.99 Sr 0.01 CuO 4 (LSCO) and silver (Ag), tilted at an angle φ , with metal‐to‐ceramic thickness ratio ν t , is investigated. Improvement in performance is achieved by optimizing the internal geometry parameters, φ and ν t of the tilted layered structure. The transverse power factor PF tr and figure‐of‐merit Z tr T of the artificially tilted material composite are analytically calculated and presented in color contours. Experimentally, a power output P out of 14.5 mW at Δ T = 140 K is measured for a TTEG with φ = 66°, compared to 2.8 mW and 11 mW for generators with φ of 20° and 45°, respectively. Moreover, TTEGs with different values of ν t are prepared. Furthermore, transverse multilayer thermoelectric generators (TMLTEG) with output power of 14.3 mW at Δ T = 225 K are fabricated utilizing the ceramic multilayer technology. It is demonstrated that the transverse thermoelectric effect using an artificial anisotropic material consisting of ceramic and metal can be explored for autonomous thermoelectric energy generation for low‐power applications.