Campus Units
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
2018
Journal or Book Title
Nanoscale
DOI
10.1039/C8NR09101C
Abstract
Solution phase printing of nanomaterials is becoming increasingly important for the creation of scalable flexible electronics including those associated with biomedical and energy harvesting applications. However, the use of solution-phase printed thermoelectric energy generators (TEGs) has been minimally explored. Herein we report a highly flexible inkjet-printed TEG. Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and bismuth antimony telluride (Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3) nanowires (NWs) are inkjet printed onto polyimide to form n-type and p-type legs for the TEGs. A post-print thermal annealing process is used to increase the thermoelectric performance of the printed NWs while eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) liquid metal contacts electrically connect the TEG legs in series. Annealing conditions for the combination of p/n legs are examined to maximize the thermoelectric efficiency of the TEG prototype. The maximum power factor was found to be 180 μW m-1K-2 and 110 μW m-1K-2 for Bi2Te3 and Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 respectively, and a maximum power of 127 nW at a 32.5 K temperature difference. The performance of the TEG device does not diminish even after multiple bending (up to 50 times) experiments around a tight radius of curvature (rod dia. 11 mm). Hence this inkjet-printed flexible TEG is a step towards a fully functional wearable TEG device.
Copyright Owner
The Royal Society of Chemistry
Copyright Date
2018
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Chen, Bolin; Kruse, Matthew; Xu, Biao; Tutika, Ravi; Zheng, Wei; Bartlett, Michael D.; Wu, Yue; and Claussen, Jonathan C., "Flexible Thermoelectric Generators with Inkjet-Printed Bismuth Telluride Nanowires and Liquid Metal Contacts" (2018). Mechanical Engineering Publications. 321.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/me_pubs/321
Included in
Chemical Engineering Commons, Materials Science and Engineering Commons, Mechanical Engineering Commons, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons
Comments
This is a manuscript of an article published as Chen, Bolin, Matthew Kruse, Biao Xu, Ravi Tutika, Wei Zheng, Michael Bartlett, Yue Wu, and Jonathan C. Claussen. "Flexible Thermoelectric Generators with Inkjet-Printed Bismuth Telluride Nanowires and Liquid Metal Contacts." Nanoscale (2018). DOI: 10.1039/C8NR09101C. Posted with permission.