Harvesting waste heat with flexible Bi2Te3 thermoelectric thin film

Zhuang-Hao Zheng, Xiao-Lei Shi, Dong-Wei Ao, Wei-Di Liu, Meng Li, Liang-Zhi Kou, Yue-Xing Chen, Fu Li, Meng Wei, Guang-Xing Liang, Ping Fan (), Gao Qing (Max) Lu and Zhi-Gang Chen ()
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Zhuang-Hao Zheng: Shenzhen University
Xiao-Lei Shi: Queensland University of Technology
Dong-Wei Ao: Shenzhen University
Wei-Di Liu: The University of Queensland
Meng Li: Queensland University of Technology
Liang-Zhi Kou: Queensland University of Technology
Yue-Xing Chen: Shenzhen University
Fu Li: Shenzhen University
Meng Wei: Shenzhen University
Guang-Xing Liang: Shenzhen University
Ping Fan: Shenzhen University
Gao Qing (Max) Lu: University of Surrey
Zhi-Gang Chen: Queensland University of Technology

Nature Sustainability, 2023, vol. 6, issue 2, 180-191

Abstract: Abstract Thermoelectric materials offer the possibility of harvesting huge amounts of waste heat, such as vehicle exhaust gases, and converting them directly into useful electricity, a process that generates power more sustainably. Flexible thermoelectrics have emerged as a technology to power wearable electronics and sensors, although coupling of thermoelectric performance and flexibility remains a big challenge. Here, we show a Bi2Te3 thin-film design that features high thermoelectric performance (room-temperature figure of merit ZT of ~1.2) and high flexibility (surviving 2,000 bending tests at an 8 mm bending radius). The favourable combination of high performance and flexibility is rooted in the textured structure of the film on the (00l) plane. The assembled flexible device from 40 pairs of thin films exhibits an outstanding output power density of 2.1 mW cm−2 at a temperature gradient of 64 K, demonstrating potential application in harvesting thermal energy from the environment or human bodies.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-022-01003-6

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