Thermoelectrics for medical applications: Progress, challenges, and perspectives

[Display omitted] •An up-to-the-date review summarizes the progress of medical thermoelectrics.•Both TEGs and TECs are reviewed from materials, structure, and application aspects.•The controversy, strategy, and outlook toward future development are provided. Thermoelectrics, enabling the direct conversion between heat and electrical energy, exhibit great potentials for employing to localized power generation and refrigeration. Their unique characteristics, such as tunable dimension, noiselessness, stability, and portability, make thermoelectrics suitable for medication-related applications. Thermoelectric applications in medicine have received increasing attention in recent years, but the research is extensive and therefore a review is needed for a systematic summary. Here, we report a timely and comprehensive review on the field of thermoelectric-assisted related materials and their medical devices, including thermoelectric power generators and thermoelectric coolers. Different medication-related thermoelectric devices are illustrated in detail, and their underlying mechanisms are discussed. In the end, we point out the challenges and future directions on medication-related thermoelectrics. This review can act as a useful tool for guiding the design of thermoelectrics with various medical applications.