High-Performance Ag₂Se Film by a Microwave-Assisted Synthesis Method for Flexible Thermoelectric Generators

Flexible Ag₂Se thermoelectric (TE) films are promising for wearable applications near room temperature (RT). Herein, a Ag₂Se film on a nylon membrane with high TE performance was fabricated by a facile method. First, Ag₂Se powders were prepared by a microwave-assisted synthesis method using Ag nanowires as a template. Second, the Ag₂Se powders were deposited onto nylon via vacuum filtration followed by hot pressing. Through modulating the Ag/Se molar ratio for synthesizing the Ag₂Se powders, an optimized Ag₂Se film demonstrates a high power factor of 1577.1 μW m^-1 K^-2 and good flexibility at RT. The flexibility of the Ag₂Se film is mainly attributed to the flexible nylon membrane. In addition, a six-leg flexible TE generator (f-TEG) fabricated with the optimized Ag₂Se film exhibits a maximum power density of 18.4 W m^-2 at a temperature difference of 29 K near RT. This work provides a new solution to prepare high-TE-performance flexible Ag₂Se films for f-TEGs.