Thermoelectric Paint for Energy Harvesting

Researchers in Korea have produced an interesting development in the field of thermoelectric energy harvesting that may offer significant improvements over the standard semiconductor modules. Sung H. Park et al. from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology have published a paper describing a thermoelectric compound which can be painted on to a surface. The paint contains particles of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), and an energy density of up to 4mW per square centimetre is claimed.

Source: http://hackaday.com/2016/12/09/thermoelectric-paint-opens-prospect-of-easier-energy-harvesting/

This all sounds impressive, however as always there technical issues to be addressed such as: a) the need of thermal sintering of the paint at high temperature to form the final material; b) finding some means to connect multiple regions of paint in series to achieve a usable voltage; c) the efficiency of the whole is only as good as the ability to transfer heat. Read the original paper here: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13403