Large‐Scale, Solution‐Synthesized Nanostructured Composites for Thermoelectric Applications

Abstract As more than one‐half of worldwide consumed energy is wasted as heat every year, high‐efficiency thermoelectric materials are highly demanded for the conversion of rejected heat to electricity in a reliable fashion. In the recent few decades, nanoscience has revolutionized thermoelectrics via the quantum confinement effect in electronic structures and grain‐boundary scattering of heat carriers. As the gas‐phase syntheses of nanomaterials are not easily scalable and solid‐state syntheses are not controllable in terms of microstructures at various length scales, significant research efforts have focused on solution syntheses that can build nanostructures with well‐defined size, composition, and morphology. Beyond the performance, several novel effects that benefit the portability and cost efficiency have been discovered in the solution‐synthesized nanomaterials. Herein, the relevant progress is reviewed and some prospects proposed.