The objective of the DARPA Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices Program was to synthesize, measure, and demonstrate novel thermoelectric materials and devices that offer revolutionary improvements in performance for cooling and power generation applications.
         
The program demonstrated superlattice structures that exhibit ZT>2 fabricated at Research Triangle Institute and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories. These accomplishments are quite extraordinary considering the state of the art value stood at ZT~1 since the mid 1960s. In addition, thermal to electric conversion efficiencies >10 percent have been demonstrated in segmented TE unicouple devices fabricated at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

DSO’s Direct Thermal to Electric Conversion Program will develop and incorporate new materials with even better properties that will ultimately yield conversion efficiencies approaching 20 percent.

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