A look at advances in flexible thermoelectrics and its wearable applications

In the future, everyday personal electronic devices could be powered by our own body heat. This green technology would be enabled by flexible thermoelectric generators, which are an emerging topic of study.

While current efficiencies only range around 2 to 12 percent, depending on the temperature difference, this is sufficient for thermoelectric generators to convert enough heat to power consumer electronics such as wristwatches, cochlear implants and other medical devices.

Shang et al. present a review of recent advances in thermoelectrics. Many effective thermoelectric materials have been developed, but current efforts are focused on developing flexible materials that are lightweight, comfortable, inexpensive, and highly durable.

“I hope this review can get people to seriously think of the possibility to adapt the flexible thermoelectric generators for devices that require little power,” said author Zhifeng Ren. “I also hope it can challenge the people who do research on flexible thermoelectric generators to drastically increase the power output to meet increasing energy demands.”

The authors discuss the development of flexible thermoelectrics, including a look at the materials that have enabled the advances, their design strategies and performance statistics. Remaining challenges due to materials and engineering are presented along with possible solutions.

The authors additionally supply ideas to inspire future research that can help advance the field. In particular, they noted the potential of organic and inorganic hybrid materials that could improve theremoelectric properties and applications at room temperature.

“There are multiple materials that can meet the requirements of thermoelectric power generation applications at close to room temperature. In another decade, more and better materials, devices, and thermoelectric generators will certainly be developed,” Ren said.

Source: “Recent advances in flexible thermoelectrics,” by Hongjing Shang, Hongwei Gu, Fazhu Ding, and Zhifeng Ren, Applied Physics Letters (2021). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0049451 .