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Advertisement Advertisement Nature Nanotechnology * View all journals * Search * My Account Login * Explore content * About the journal * Publish with us Subscribe * Sign up for alerts * RSS feed 1. nature 2. nature nanotechnology 3. comment 4. article * Comment * Published: 09 December 2021 A roadmap for molecular thermoelectricity * Andrea Gemma^1 & * Bernd Gotsmann ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8978-7468^1 Nature Nanotechnology volume 16, pages 1299-1301 (2021)Cite this article * 955 Accesses * 5 Altmetric * Metrics details Subjects * Chemical engineering * Devices for energy harvesting * Electronic properties and materials * Energy access * Molecular self-assembly Molecules have the potential to act as sharp energy filters for electrical currents and could thereby outperform other materials considered for thermoelectric energy conversion. Yet, there is a gap between theoretical predictions and practical implementations in molecular thermoelectricity, and this research roadmap may guide the transition from academic research to valuable technology. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe Numerous ongoing research projects trust molecules as energy converters with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency, as expressed using the figure of merit ZT = GS^2T/K, through thermal conductance K, electrical conductance G and Seebeck coefficient S. A value of ZT [?] 1 at room temperature is achieved with materials such as BiTe[x], SnSe or Heusler alloys, but the energy conversion efficiency stays low (Fig. 1e). The highest laboratory reported values are around ZT = 3 (ref. ^2), with ZT = 2.5 for optimized Bi[2] Te[3] nanowires^3. However, most of the materials showing the highest ZT values are measured at high temperatures (>500 K). This is a preview of subscription content Access options Access through your institution Access through your institution Change institution Buy or subscribe Subscribe to Journal Get full journal access for 1 year $99.00 only $8.25 per issue Subscribe All prices are NET prices. VAT will be added later in the checkout. Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. Rent or Buy article Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube. from$8.99 Rent or Buy All prices are NET prices. Additional access options: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions Fig. 1: Working principle of molecular junctions for thermoelectric applications. [41565_2021_1012_Fig1_HTML] Fig. 2: Simple depiction of the use areas and constraints of molecular thermal energy converters (TECs) for harvesting (left) and cooling (right) applications. [41565_2021_1012_Fig2_HTML] References 1. 1. Aviram, A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 110, 5687-5692 (1988). CAS Article Google Scholar 2. 2. Wei, J. et al. J. Mater. 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Bernd Gotsmann View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to Bernd Gotsmann. Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information Peer review information Nature Nanotechnology thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Rights and permissions Reprints and Permissions About this article Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark Cite this article Gemma, A., Gotsmann, B. A roadmap for molecular thermoelectricity. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 1299-1301 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41565-021-01012-0 Download citation * Published: 09 December 2021 * Issue Date: December 2021 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-01012-0 Share this article Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. 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