A review on thermoelectric energy harvesting from asphalt pavement: Configuration, performance and future

Reducing the use of fossil fuels and generating renewable energy have always been important to society. Asphalt pavements cover a high percentage of urban surface areas and store huge thermal energy due to high solar radiation. The thermoelectric effect can convert thermal energy into electric energy if there exist thermal gradients. The use of thermoelectric effect in asphalt pavement, on the one hand, can reduce the temperature of the road surface and relieve the damage caused by high temperature; on the other hand, can collect clean electric energy used for LED (light-emitting diode) lamps, in-suit monitoring sensors, and other apparatus. The present paper introduces the principle of thermoelectric effect, discusses the asphalt pavement temperature field and investigates the configurations of thermoelectric energy harvesting system used in asphalt pavements. The methods for improving efficiency are discussed and future research recommendations are proposed. This review shows that by means of thermoelectric effect to harvest energy from asphalt pavements is feasible, but more effort should be made to improve the thermoelectric device efficiency.