Enhanced thermoelectric properties of cement-based composites with expanded graphite for climate adaptation and large-scale energy harvesting

The excellent thermoelectric property of expanded graphite/cement-based composites (EGCC) has promising prospects for converting the thermal energy of solar radiation into electric energy directly for large-scale energy harvesting, reducing the total thermal energy discharged into the urban environment in summer by pavements and buildings. We investigated the thermoelectric properties of EGCC and achieved high power factor and thermoelectric figure of merit 6.82 × 10−4 for cement-based materials, while the EGCC held a high compressive strength. It is benefit to energy harvesting in large-scale and alleviate the urban heat island effect in cities. Hall coefficients of the cement-based composites were also measured for the first time.