Flexible thermoelectrics based on ductile semiconductors

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid-State Physics
• Energy Harvesting

Background:

• Flexible thermoelectrics offer sustainable power solutions for portable devices.
• Silver sulfide-based semiconductors show promise, but a lack of p-type materials hinders device fabrication.
• Conventional cross-plane, pi-shaped flexible thermoelectric devices require robust p-type components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop high-performance p-type ductile thermoelectric materials.
• To explore AgCu(Se,S,Te) pseudoternary solid solutions for enhanced thermoelectric properties.
• To fabricate and evaluate flexible thermoelectric devices for practical applications.

Main Methods:

• Investigated a series of AgCu(Se,S,Te) pseudoternary solid solutions.
• Utilized composition-performance phase diagrams to optimize material properties.
• Fabricated thin and flexible pi-shaped thermoelectric devices.

Main Results:

• Achieved high figure-of-merit (ZT) values: 0.45 at 300 K and 0.68 at 340 K.
• Demonstrated superior performance compared to existing flexible thermoelectric materials.
• Reached a maximum normalized power density of 30 μW cm^-2 K^-2 in flexible devices.

Conclusions:

• The developed AgCu(Se,S,Te) materials are promising p-type ductile thermoelectrics.
• These materials enable the fabrication of efficient, flexible thermoelectric generators.
• The findings support the use of flexible thermoelectrics in wearable electronics and other portable power applications.