Nanostructured Silicon for High-Efficient and Cost-Effective Heat Recovery Through Thermoelectric Conversion

Nanostructuring is very effective in enhancing the thermal to electrical energy conversion efficiency of most materials, including in particular silicon which presents a perfect tradeoff between technical potentialities and environmental/political/social issues. Heat sources, that nowadays are exploited only in a small fraction, could become key players in energy production thanks to thermoelectric device based on nanostructured silicon. Successful strategies, including on-chip devices for micro-harvesting and cost-effective large-area vertical nanowire forests for macro-harvesting will be presented. An estimation of the efficiency will be reported, highlighting the competitiveness of these devices with respect to conventional techniques.