Recent Progress in Organic Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

In recent years, thermoelectric (TE) devices have attracted a growing attention due to their promising ability to convert waste heat into readily available electric energy. Compared to inorganic counterparts, organic TE devices emerged as the potential candidates for room-temperature and flexible (even wearable) TE power generation. During last few decades, extensive studies have been performed on the p- and n-type materials and devices to build up the inter-relationship among the TE parameters (i.e., electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity and power factors), demonstrating a great potential of organic TEs. In this review, recent progresses in the organic TE materials and devices, dopants and doping method, charge transport models and flexible TE device applications are summarized and the key strategies and future prospects to further optimize TE performance are discussed. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].