2026 roadmap toward sustainable thermoelectrics

Jan-Willem G Bos; Trupti Mohanty; Taylor D Sparks; Wenjie Xie; Anke Weidenkaff; Salvatore Grasso; Ruizhi Zhang; Michael J Reece; Teng Wang; Jae Sung Son; Samina Akbar; Iris Nandhakumar; Richard Tuley; Cevriye Koz; Ran He; Pingjun Ying; Amin Bahrami; Vicente Pacheco; Kornelius Nielsch; Ricardo Grau-Crespo; Luis M Antunes; Keith T Butler; Neophytos Neophytou; Rajeev Dutt; Bhawna Sahni; Nagendra Singh Chauhan; Takao Mori; M Parzer; F Garmroudi; A Riss; E Bauer; Chongyang Zeng; Emiliano Bilotti; Chang You; Oliver Fenwick; Paz Vaqueiro; Emmanuel Guilmeau; Animesh Das; Kanishka Biswas; Yu Liu; Chenguang Fu; Tiejun Zhu; Gerda Rogl; Peter Rogl; Panagiotis Mangelis; Theodora Kyratsi; Ryoji Funahashi

doi:10.1088/2515-7655/ae2d98

2026 roadmap toward sustainable thermoelectrics

Jan-Willem G Bos^*, Trupti Mohanty, Taylor D Sparks, Wenjie Xie, Anke Weidenkaff, Salvatore Grasso, Ruizhi Zhang, Michael J Reece, Teng Wang, Jae Sung Son, Samina Akbar, Iris Nandhakumar, Richard Tuley, Cevriye Koz, Ran He, Pingjun Ying, Amin Bahrami, Vicente Pacheco, Kornelius Nielsch, Ricardo Grau-CrespoLuis M Antunes, Keith T Butler, Neophytos Neophytou, Rajeev Dutt, Bhawna Sahni, Nagendra Singh Chauhan, Takao Mori, M Parzer, F Garmroudi, A Riss, E Bauer, Chongyang Zeng, Emiliano Bilotti, Chang You, Oliver Fenwick, Paz Vaqueiro, Emmanuel Guilmeau, Animesh Das, Kanishka Biswas, Yu Liu, Chenguang Fu, Tiejun Zhu, Gerda Rogl, Peter Rogl, Panagiotis Mangelis, Theodora Kyratsi, Ryoji Funahashi

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) technology uses the Seebeck effect to directly convert heat into electricity or vice versa. Amongst its advantages are the lack of moving parts, reliability, absence of refrigerant gasses and scalability. To date, commercial progress has been limited due to relatively low conversion efficiencies and high costs. However, with increasing energy costs, the advent of the Internet of Things and its needs to power many sensors, and the need for thermal management in electronics, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future of TE energy conversion. Beyond using abundant elements, sustainability has so far not been a major consideration in the development of TE technology, with its understandable emphasis on improving performance. However, sustainability aspects, including eco-friendly processing, resource efficient module fabrication, ensuring a long working life and end of life recycling should all be major considerations from the outset. This roadmap aims to provide an overview of current efforts moving towards sustainable TEs as well as guidance for future work. In terms of organization, the roadmap contains cross-cutting sections on aspects of sustainability and sections focused on the major TE materials. It can be read front to back or focusing on chapters of particular interest. We hope that this roadmap will stimulate new research, leading to the early adoption of sustainability concepts, beyond using abundant elements, in the development of large-scale TE technology.

Original language	English
Article number	011502
Number of pages	74
Journal	Journal of Physics: Energy
Volume	8
Issue number	1
Early online date	25 Feb 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/ae2d98
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2026

Keywords

Thermoelectrics
Sustainable materials
Thermoelectric materials
Sustainable

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Bos, J.-W. G., Mohanty, T., Sparks, T. D., Xie, W., Weidenkaff, A., Grasso, S., Zhang, R., Reece, M. J., Wang, T., Son, J. S., Akbar, S., Nandhakumar, I., Tuley, R., Koz, C., He, R., Ying, P., Bahrami, A., Pacheco, V., Nielsch, K., ... Funahashi, R. (2026). 2026 roadmap toward sustainable thermoelectrics. Journal of Physics: Energy, 8(1), Article 011502. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/ae2d98

@article{0d60c9c1ff694d53983943c9f666a308,

title = "2026 roadmap toward sustainable thermoelectrics",

abstract = "Thermoelectric (TE) technology uses the Seebeck effect to directly convert heat into electricity or vice versa. Amongst its advantages are the lack of moving parts, reliability, absence of refrigerant gasses and scalability. To date, commercial progress has been limited due to relatively low conversion efficiencies and high costs. However, with increasing energy costs, the advent of the Internet of Things and its needs to power many sensors, and the need for thermal management in electronics, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future of TE energy conversion. Beyond using abundant elements, sustainability has so far not been a major consideration in the development of TE technology, with its understandable emphasis on improving performance. However, sustainability aspects, including eco-friendly processing, resource efficient module fabrication, ensuring a long working life and end of life recycling should all be major considerations from the outset. This roadmap aims to provide an overview of current efforts moving towards sustainable TEs as well as guidance for future work. In terms of organization, the roadmap contains cross-cutting sections on aspects of sustainability and sections focused on the major TE materials. It can be read front to back or focusing on chapters of particular interest. We hope that this roadmap will stimulate new research, leading to the early adoption of sustainability concepts, beyond using abundant elements, in the development of large-scale TE technology.",

keywords = "Thermoelectrics, Sustainable materials, Thermoelectric materials, Sustainable",

author = "Bos, \{Jan-Willem G\} and Trupti Mohanty and Sparks, \{Taylor D\} and Wenjie Xie and Anke Weidenkaff and Salvatore Grasso and Ruizhi Zhang and Reece, \{Michael J\} and Teng Wang and Son, \{Jae Sung\} and Samina Akbar and Iris Nandhakumar and Richard Tuley and Cevriye Koz and Ran He and Pingjun Ying and Amin Bahrami and Vicente Pacheco and Kornelius Nielsch and Ricardo Grau-Crespo and Antunes, \{Luis M\} and Butler, \{Keith T\} and Neophytos Neophytou and Rajeev Dutt and Bhawna Sahni and Chauhan, \{Nagendra Singh\} and Takao Mori and M Parzer and F Garmroudi and A Riss and E Bauer and Chongyang Zeng and Emiliano Bilotti and Chang You and Oliver Fenwick and Paz Vaqueiro and Emmanuel Guilmeau and Animesh Das and Kanishka Biswas and Yu Liu and Chenguang Fu and Tiejun Zhu and Gerda Rogl and Peter Rogl and Panagiotis Mangelis and Theodora Kyratsi and Ryoji Funahashi",

note = "Funding: The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Army Research Office Materials Design program under Contract Number \#W911NF-23-1-0333. The author would like to thank the UKRI FLF scheme, Grant No MR/V026224/1 for funding. KTB acknowledges funding from UKRI (EP/Y000552/1 \& EP/Y014405/1). This work has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 678763) and from the UK Research and Innovation fund (project reference EP/X02346X/1). The authors would like to thank the support from UKRI Innovate UK (KiriTEG Project, Reference: 51868). C.Z. acknowledges Ph.D. scholarship funding from the China Scholarship Council. Funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme ICARUS Project under Grant Agreement No 958365.",

year = "2026",

month = mar,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1088/2515-7655/ae2d98",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

journal = "Journal of Physics: Energy",

issn = "2515-7655",

publisher = "Institute of Physics",

number = "1",

}

Bos, J-WG, Mohanty, T, Sparks, TD, Xie, W, Weidenkaff, A, Grasso, S, Zhang, R, Reece, MJ, Wang, T, Son, JS, Akbar, S, Nandhakumar, I, Tuley, R, Koz, C, He, R, Ying, P, Bahrami, A, Pacheco, V, Nielsch, K, Grau-Crespo, R, Antunes, LM, Butler, KT, Neophytou, N, Dutt, R, Sahni, B, Chauhan, NS, Mori, T, Parzer, M, Garmroudi, F, Riss, A, Bauer, E, Zeng, C, Bilotti, E, You, C, Fenwick, O, Vaqueiro, P, Guilmeau, E, Das, A, Biswas, K, Liu, Y, Fu, C, Zhu, T, Rogl, G, Rogl, P, Mangelis, P, Kyratsi, T & Funahashi, R 2026, '2026 roadmap toward sustainable thermoelectrics', Journal of Physics: Energy, vol. 8, no. 1, 011502. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/ae2d98

TY - JOUR

T1 - 2026 roadmap toward sustainable thermoelectrics

AU - Bos, Jan-Willem G

AU - Mohanty, Trupti

AU - Sparks, Taylor D

AU - Xie, Wenjie

AU - Weidenkaff, Anke

AU - Grasso, Salvatore

AU - Zhang, Ruizhi

AU - Reece, Michael J

AU - Wang, Teng

AU - Son, Jae Sung

AU - Akbar, Samina

AU - Nandhakumar, Iris

AU - Tuley, Richard

AU - Koz, Cevriye

AU - He, Ran

AU - Ying, Pingjun

AU - Bahrami, Amin

AU - Pacheco, Vicente

AU - Nielsch, Kornelius

AU - Grau-Crespo, Ricardo

AU - Antunes, Luis M

AU - Butler, Keith T

AU - Neophytou, Neophytos

AU - Dutt, Rajeev

AU - Sahni, Bhawna

AU - Chauhan, Nagendra Singh

AU - Mori, Takao

AU - Parzer, M

AU - Garmroudi, F

AU - Riss, A

AU - Bauer, E

AU - Zeng, Chongyang

AU - Bilotti, Emiliano

AU - You, Chang

AU - Fenwick, Oliver

AU - Vaqueiro, Paz

AU - Guilmeau, Emmanuel

AU - Das, Animesh

AU - Biswas, Kanishka

AU - Liu, Yu

AU - Fu, Chenguang

AU - Zhu, Tiejun

AU - Rogl, Gerda

AU - Rogl, Peter

AU - Mangelis, Panagiotis

AU - Kyratsi, Theodora

AU - Funahashi, Ryoji

N1 - Funding: The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Army Research Office Materials Design program under Contract Number #W911NF-23-1-0333. The author would like to thank the UKRI FLF scheme, Grant No MR/V026224/1 for funding. KTB acknowledges funding from UKRI (EP/Y000552/1 & EP/Y014405/1). This work has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 678763) and from the UK Research and Innovation fund (project reference EP/X02346X/1). The authors would like to thank the support from UKRI Innovate UK (KiriTEG Project, Reference: 51868). C.Z. acknowledges Ph.D. scholarship funding from the China Scholarship Council. Funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme ICARUS Project under Grant Agreement No 958365.

PY - 2026/3/1

Y1 - 2026/3/1

N2 - Thermoelectric (TE) technology uses the Seebeck effect to directly convert heat into electricity or vice versa. Amongst its advantages are the lack of moving parts, reliability, absence of refrigerant gasses and scalability. To date, commercial progress has been limited due to relatively low conversion efficiencies and high costs. However, with increasing energy costs, the advent of the Internet of Things and its needs to power many sensors, and the need for thermal management in electronics, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future of TE energy conversion. Beyond using abundant elements, sustainability has so far not been a major consideration in the development of TE technology, with its understandable emphasis on improving performance. However, sustainability aspects, including eco-friendly processing, resource efficient module fabrication, ensuring a long working life and end of life recycling should all be major considerations from the outset. This roadmap aims to provide an overview of current efforts moving towards sustainable TEs as well as guidance for future work. In terms of organization, the roadmap contains cross-cutting sections on aspects of sustainability and sections focused on the major TE materials. It can be read front to back or focusing on chapters of particular interest. We hope that this roadmap will stimulate new research, leading to the early adoption of sustainability concepts, beyond using abundant elements, in the development of large-scale TE technology.

AB - Thermoelectric (TE) technology uses the Seebeck effect to directly convert heat into electricity or vice versa. Amongst its advantages are the lack of moving parts, reliability, absence of refrigerant gasses and scalability. To date, commercial progress has been limited due to relatively low conversion efficiencies and high costs. However, with increasing energy costs, the advent of the Internet of Things and its needs to power many sensors, and the need for thermal management in electronics, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future of TE energy conversion. Beyond using abundant elements, sustainability has so far not been a major consideration in the development of TE technology, with its understandable emphasis on improving performance. However, sustainability aspects, including eco-friendly processing, resource efficient module fabrication, ensuring a long working life and end of life recycling should all be major considerations from the outset. This roadmap aims to provide an overview of current efforts moving towards sustainable TEs as well as guidance for future work. In terms of organization, the roadmap contains cross-cutting sections on aspects of sustainability and sections focused on the major TE materials. It can be read front to back or focusing on chapters of particular interest. We hope that this roadmap will stimulate new research, leading to the early adoption of sustainability concepts, beyond using abundant elements, in the development of large-scale TE technology.

KW - Thermoelectrics

KW - Sustainable materials

KW - Thermoelectric materials

KW - Sustainable

U2 - 10.1088/2515-7655/ae2d98

DO - 10.1088/2515-7655/ae2d98

M3 - Review article

SN - 2515-7655

VL - 8

JO - Journal of Physics: Energy

JF - Journal of Physics: Energy

IS - 1

M1 - 011502

ER -

2026 roadmap toward sustainable thermoelectrics

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