Porous Metal-Organic-Framework (MOF) Based Hybrid Materials for Thermoelectric Applications

Abstract

Thermoelectric materials based on porous hybrid and MOFs constitute a very recent development, with many new and undiscovered phenomena for the research field. These porous Hybrid materials and MOF (Metal-Organic-Framework) films represent modern designer materials that exhibit many requirements of a near ideal and tunable future thermoelectric (TE) material. It is anticipated that especially the inherent porosity can be used advantageously in the design and simulation predictions of future thermoelectric materials. In principle, porous Hybrid and MOFs materials can comply with most of the requirements of an ideal and tunable future thermoelectric (TE) material. In contrast to traditional semiconducting bulk thermoelectric materials, porous hybrid MOF templates can be used to overcome some of the constraints of physics in bulk thermoelectric materials. These porous hybrid systems are amenable for simulation and modeling to design novel optimized electron-crystal phonon-glass materials with potentially very high Figure of Merit (ZT) numbers. Porous MOF and Hybrid materials possess an ultra-low thermal conductivity, which can be further modulated by phonon engineering within their complex porous and hierarchical architecture to advance the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT. This class of novel materials offers new approaches to the design of complex and hierarchical porous structures, possessing ultra-low thermal conductivity, which are able to trap, and localize phonons, thus resulting in a new generation of thermoelectric materials with a high ZT number. This work is demonstrating recent results of MOF thermoelectric Materials and provides a future outlook to the search for the next generation thermoelectric porous Hybrid and MOF materials, which could be part of a green renewable energy revolution with novel materials of sustainable high ZT values.