- Research Article
- 10.1016/j.jmst.2025.11.053
Manifold microchannel heat sinks enhance the power generation performance of micro-thermoelectric devices
- Sep 01, 2026
- Journal of Materials Science & Technology
- Jun Pei + 11 more +11
• Ultrahigh power factor boosts maximum power under a fixed temperature difference (Δ T ). • Manifold microchannel (MMC) heat sink enables a large Δ T in power generation mode. • Mg 3 Sb 2 and SnSe are potential alternatives to Bi 2 Te 3 . • Micro devices with MMC heat sinks offer promising energy harvesting. Micro thermoelectric devices (micro-TEDs) have emerged as promising candidates for energy harvesting applications. Despite the development of numerous high-performance thermoelectric materials over the past decades, most micro-TEDs still rely heavily on conventional Bi 2 Te 3 -based materials. Effectively integrating advanced thermoelectric materials into micro-TEDs remains a significant challenge. In this work, we theoretically match several recently developed high-performance near-room-temperature thermoelectric materials with micro-TEDs and explore the integration of a manifold microchannel (MMC) heat sink on the cold side to significantly enhance the effective temperature difference across the devices. Upon incorporating the MMC heat sink, the maximum power densities of Bi 2 Te 3 -, Mg 3 Sb 2 -, and SnSe-based micro-TEDs reach 50.32, 29.68, and 31.07 µW mm −2 , respectively, representing increases of 60.63-fold, 56.52-fold, and 57.69-fold compared to devices without heat sinks. These results highlight that coupling micro-TEDs with emerging near-room-temperature thermoelectric materials and a well-engineered MMC heat sink offers a promising route for efficient energy harvesting applications.
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