A fully self-powered wearable monitoring system with systematically optimized flexible thermoelectric generator

Yuan, Jinfeng; Zhu, Rong

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115250

Cited by 109 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…The emergence of wearable electronic devices has stimulated the demand for a flexible, light-weight, and high-efficiency power supply system. [1,2] In contrast to more traditional energy storage systems (e.g., batteries [3] and supercapacitors [4] ), which require manual recharging, flexible energy harvesters (including solar cells, [5] piezoelectric polymer generators, [6,7] triboelectric generators, [8,9] and thermoelectric generators [10][11][12][13] ) convert energy from the local environment, including mechanical motion or temperature gradients from the human body, to electrical charge. [14,15] These energy harvesters are environmentally friendly power sources, which potentially provide a pathway toward the elimination of manual device charging and a reduction in battery waste.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[10] Among these power sources, thermoelectric generators (TEG) attached to the human body are highly attractive, as the heat continually being emitted by the body (up to 20 mW cm −2 ) enables a constant power supply, in contrast to motion-based, or solar-based energy harvesting technologies. [10][11][12][13]16,17] We have recently discussed the promising prospect of body heat harvesting in the future global market of wearable electronics and provided possible designs for a skin-conformal TEG. [10] However, the relatively low Seebeck coefficient (S e = ∆V/∆T, where ∆V is the open circuit voltage and ∆T is the temperature gradient) on the order of µV K −1 [18] and the reliance on rigid and expensive thermoelectric materials have greatly limited the practical development of TEGs for wearable applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advanced Wearable Thermocells for Body Heat Harvesting

Liu

Zhang

Zhou

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

113

149

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Thermoelectrochemical cells (thermocells) designed for harvesting human body heat can provide constant power output for wearable electronics, supplementing state‐of‐the‐art flexible power storage and conversion solutions. However, a systematic investigation into the optimization of wearable thermocells is lacking, especially with regard to device design, n‐type electrolytes, and electrode/electrolyte integration. Here, a n‐type gel electrolyte: polyvinyl alcohol‐FeCl2/3 with outstanding flexibility and elasticity and exceptional electrolyte/electrode integration into a 3D porous poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)/polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT/PSS) electrode, is produced via an in situ chemical crosslinking method. The integrated n‐type cell shows excellent seebeck coefficients (0.85 mV K−1) and output current density (1.74 A m−2 K−1) that are comparable with an optimized p‐type cell consisting of a carboxymethylcellulose‐K3/4Fe(CN)6 electrolyte with a 3D PEDOT/PSS‐edge functionalized graphene/carbon nanotube electrode (−1.22 mV K−1 and 1.85 A m−2 K−1). The equivalent performance of the n‐type and p‐type cells enables the effective series connection of up to 18 pairs of p–n cells that combines to give an output voltage of 0.34 V (∆T = 10 K). This in‐series device is fabricated into a proof‐of‐concept watch strap, which can harvest body heat, charge supercapacitor (up to 470 mF) as well as illuminate a green light emitting diode, demonstrating the practical applications.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Wearable Thermocells for Body Heat Harvesting

Liu

Zhang

Zhou

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

113

149

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As the core component of the e‐skin system, the f‐TEG is crucial and needs to be designed to meet the requirement of independent power supply for the e‐skin system. Taking multiobjective optimization of power density ( P s ), material consumption, and electrical load matching into consideration, [ 19 ] we optimize the number of thermoelectric grains ( n ), the fill factor ( f ), and the series–parallel connection mode ( m ) for the f‐TEG. Here the fill factor represents the proportion of thermoelectric grain area to the total area of the f‐TEG, that is, f = n ∙ S g / S 0 , where S g (1 mm 2 ) is the base area of a single thermoelectric grain and S 0 is the total area of f‐TEG (the area of human palm, ≈64 cm 2 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The f‐TEG is optimized in terms of multiobjective criterion to achieve both of high power density and optimum load matching with the e‐skin. [ 19 ] Besides, the f‐TEG is highly integrated with the sensing of e‐skin. The f‐TEG wearing on human hand not only harvests energy from body heat, but also acts as a multisensory receptor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Powered Electronic Skin with Multisensory Functions Based on Thermoelectric Conversion

Yuan

Zhu

2020

Adv Materials Technologies

Self Cite

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Wearable electronics for personal healthcare and environment awareness are attracting more and more attention, where continuous energy supply is requisite and still faces great challenge. Here, a self‐powered electronic skin (e‐skin) system with multiple sensations as well as data processing and data visualization is developed. The core component is a hand‐shaped flexible thermoelectric generator functionalized as e‐skin, which not only harvests energy from body heat to supply power for the entire e‐skin system, but also plays a role of multisensory receptor. The e‐skin system is endowed with multifunction of sensing temperature and humidity, perceiving wind and motion, identifying material and monitoring acceleration, as well as displaying the sensing data on a liquid crystal display, all of which are powered by human body heat. The self‐powered flexible e‐skin provides an advantageous approach for applications in repair of skin injury, wearable healthcare devices, and wearable robots.

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“…Energy harvesting from the environment and the human body is a current research hotspot. The existing solar cells [ 6 , 7 ], thermoelectric generators [ 8 , 9 ], and biofuel cells [ 10 , 11 ] are the main methods to harvest energy from the environment and human body, but they require external conditions such as sunlight, temperature, and auxiliary catalysts to work continuously and steadily.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Textile-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Wearable Self-Powered Microsystems

et al. 2021

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In recent years, wearable electronic devices have made considerable progress thanks to the rapid development of the Internet of Things. However, even though some of them have preliminarily achieved miniaturization and wearability, the drawbacks of frequent charging and physical rigidity of conventional lithium batteries, which are currently the most commonly used power source of wearable electronic devices, have become technical bottlenecks that need to be broken through urgently. In order to address the above challenges, the technology based on triboelectric effect, i.e., triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), is proposed to harvest energy from ambient environment and considered as one of the most promising methods to integrate with functional electronic devices to form wearable self-powered microsystems. Benefited from excellent flexibility, high output performance, no materials limitation, and a quantitative relationship between environmental stimulation inputs and corresponding electrical outputs, TENGs present great advantages in wearable energy harvesting, active sensing, and driving actuators. Furthermore, combined with the superiorities of TENGs and fabrics, textile-based TENGs (T-TENGs) possess remarkable breathability and better non-planar surface adaptability, which are more conducive to the integrated wearable electronic devices and attract considerable attention. Herein, for the purpose of advancing the development of wearable electronic devices, this article reviews the recent development in materials for the construction of T-TENGs and methods for the enhancement of electrical output performance. More importantly, this article mainly focuses on the recent representative work, in which T-TENGs-based active sensors, T-TENGs-based self-driven actuators, and T-TENGs-based self-powered microsystems are studied. In addition, this paper summarizes the critical challenges and future opportunities of T-TENG-based wearable integrated microsystems.

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A fully self-powered wearable monitoring system with systematically optimized flexible thermoelectric generator

Cited by 109 publications

References 50 publications

Advanced Wearable Thermocells for Body Heat Harvesting

Advanced Wearable Thermocells for Body Heat Harvesting

Self‐Powered Electronic Skin with Multisensory Functions Based on Thermoelectric Conversion

Textile-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Wearable Self-Powered Microsystems

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