thermoelectric power enhancement via cnt microfins: a computational approach

Thermoelectric (te) devices offer a promising approach to harvesting wasted thermal energy from fluid flow without mechanical components. however, their performance is highly dependent on the of heat transfer between the te legs and heat sinks, especially under varying fluid temperatures. this study investigates the enhancement of thermal performance at the leg/heat sink interface by integrating carbon nanotube (cnt) arrays as microfins on polymeric te legs. a validated finite element model is used to simulate device behaviour and assess the impact of cnt geometry and fluid flow conditions. simulation results reveal that cnt arrays significantly increase the temperature gradient across the te legs, leading to improved energy conversion rates. compared to devices without cnts, the cnt-based thermopile exhibits 1.4 to 2 times higher open-circuit voltage and output power efficiency. when five te units are connected to form a thermopile, the output reaches 7 mv and 0.3 μw approximately tenfold the performance of a single device. the amount of recovered waste heat from the hot flow source is about 0.0117 w. optimal power output is achieved through impedance matching, which can be tuned by configuring the number of te units in series or parallel. these findings highlight the potential of cnt-enhanced te devices for efficient thermal energy harvesting in fluidic systems.