Flexible thermoelectrics provide a different solution for developing portable and sustainable flexible power supplies. The discovery of silver sulfide–based ductile semiconductors has driven a shift in the potential for flexible thermoelectrics, but the lack of good p-type ductile thermoelectric materials has restricted the reality of fabricating conventional cross-plane π-shaped flexible devices. We report a series of high-performance p-type ductile thermoelectric materials based on the composition-performance phase diagram in AgCu(Se,S,Te) pseudoternary solid solutions, with high figure-of-merit values (0.45 at 300 kelvin and 0.68 at 340 kelvin) compared with other flexible thermoelectric materials. We further demonstrate thin and flexible π-shaped devices with a maximum normalized power density that reaches 30 μW cm
−2
K
−2
. This output is promising for the use of flexible thermoelectrics in wearable electronics.
Recently, a deformable and ductile inorganic semiconductor Ag2S has attracted intense attention due to its potential application in self-powered wearable and hetero-shaped electronics. However, the thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) of Ag2S is greatly limited by its extremely low carrier concentration. In this study, via doping I into Ag2S-based materials, we tune the carrier concentration into the optimal range as well as suppressing the lattice thermal conductivity. A maximum zT value of 0.26 is achieved for Ag2S0.7Se0.295I0.005 at 300 K, about three times higher than the matrix compound. More importantly, doping I has little effect on the ductility and deformability of Ag2S-based materials. Our study shows that I-doped Ag2S-based materials are good candidates for developing flexible thermoelectric technologies.
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