Significant progress has been made in the last decade in increasing the efficiency and performance of thermoelectric materials. Therefore interest has developed in the utilization of advanced thermoelectric materials for solar energy applications. A review of thermoelectric materials from this viewpoint is presented. The concept of using
self-assembled nano-composites to enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit relative to bulk materials is discussed in general terms. The scientific advantages of the nano-composite approach for the simultaneous increase in the power factor and decrease of the thermal conductivity are emphasized along with the practical advantages of scale-up of nanostructured building blocks into bulk quantities of material suitable for solar device fabrication.