Thermoelectric power generation which represents the direct solid-state conversion of waste heat to electricity is a promising field challenging to reach wide-scale application. There are intrinsic paradoxes in the requirements of physical properties leading to high thermoelectric performance. Namely, high electrical conductivity but low thermal conductivity κ, and large Seebeck coefficient but high electrical conductivity are required. These have made straightforward enhancement of the thermoelectric performance difficult. I will review several novel materials and processes we are developing to overcome the traditional limitations, and which were presented at this Power MEMS 2017 conference.