Printed origami thermoelectric generator achieves > 20 Wm<sup>-</sup>² from low-grade heat via material and process design.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41620426.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-68852-z and PMC identifier 12864769.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Printing facilitates low-cost thermoelectric generators to power battery-free internet-of-things devices, wearables, and Industry 4.0 systems. However, scaling up requires printable thermoelectric materials with good mechanical properties and high performance. Here, we report a high-performance Ag<sub>2</sub>(Se<sub>1-x</sub>S<sub>x</sub>)<sub>1.05</sub>-based n-type printed thermoelectric film through a combination of engineering non-stoichiometric defects and sulfur substitution. An optimal sulfur substitution of 2 at. % facilitates an excellent flexibility and a power factor of~16 µWcm<sup>-1</sup> K<sup>-2</sup> at 360 K, a 65 % increase compared to a pristine Ag<sub>2</sub>Se film. A fully printed origami-thermoelectric generator produces a maximum power output <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <msub><mrow><mi>P</mi></mrow> <mrow><mi>max</mi></mrow> </msub> </math> of 907 µW at a temperature difference of 80 K. A record-high power density p<sub>d</sub> of 21 W m<sup>-2</sup> (corresponding to 800 µW g<sup>-1</sup> as a weight-normalized power density) is achieved, twice that of previously reported origami-thermoelectric generators. These results highlight cost-effective manufacturing of thermoelectric generators with the capability to power next-generation autonomous electronic devices.