Comment on "Effective thermal conductivity in thermoelectric materials"

Abstract

In a recent article, Baranowski et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 113, 204904 (2013)] proposed a model that allegedly facilitates optimization of thermoelectric generators operation as these latter are in contact with hot and cold temperature baths through finite conductance heat exchangers. In this Comment, we argue that the results and analyses presented by these authors are misleading since their model is incomplete and rests on an inappropriate assumption derived from thermoelectric compatibility theory.