Nanobinders advance screen-printed flexible thermoelectrics.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39666792.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.ads5868.
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Abstract
Limited flexibility, complex manufacturing processes, high costs, and insufficient performance are major factors restricting the scalability and commercialization of flexible inorganic thermoelectrics for wearable electronics and other high-end cooling applications. We developed an innovative, cost-effective technology that integrates solvothermal, screen-printing, and sintering techniques to produce an inorganic flexible thermoelectric film. Our printable film, comprising Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>-based nanoplates as highly orientated grains and Te nanorods as "nanobinders," shows excellent thermoelectric performance for printable films, good flexibility, large-scale manufacturability, and low cost. We constructed a flexible thermoelectric device assembled by printable n-type Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>-based and p-type Bi<sub>0.4</sub>Sb<sub>1.6</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> films, which achieved a normalized power density of >3 μW cm<sup>-2</sup> K<sup>-2</sup>, ranking among the highest in screen-printed devices. Moreover, this technology can be extended to other inorganic thermoelectric film systems, such as Ag<sub>2</sub>Se, showing broad applicability.