Power-efficiency trade-off in nanoscale thermoelectric energy conversion

An “electrical engineering” perspective of nanoscale thermoelectric energy conversion is presented. The trade-off between the extracted electrical power and the energy conversion efficiency is elucidated using representative examples from molecular conduction. This view point which is based on the direct evaluation of the overall efficiency from device current-voltage characteristics gives a more complete picture of the thermoelectric performance in comparison to the traditional “figure of merit” based materials science approach.