High-performance wearable thermoelectric generator with self-healing, recycling, and Lego-like reconfiguring capabilities

Abstract

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are an excellent candidate for powering wearable electronics and the “Internet of Things,” due to their capability of directly converting heat to electrical energy. Here, we report a high-performance wearable TEG with superior stretchability, self-healability, recyclability, and Lego-like reconfigurability, by combining modular thermoelectric chips, dynamic covalent polyimine, and flowable liquid-metal electrical wiring in a mechanical architecture design of “soft motherboard-rigid plugin modules.” A record-high open-circuit voltage among flexible TEGs is achieved, reaching 1 V/cm2 at a temperature difference of 95 K. Furthermore, this TEG is integrated with a wavelength-selective metamaterial film on the cold side, leading to greatly improved device performance under solar irradiation, which is critically important for wearable energy harvesting during outdoor activities. The optimal properties and design concepts of TEGs reported here can pave the way for delivering the next-generation high-performance, adaptable, customizable, durable, economical, and eco-friendly energy-harvesting devices with wide applications.

Recyclable, Healable, and Stretchable High‐Power Thermoelectric Generator

“…Enlighten by our recent study, [27,28] dynamic covalent thermoset polyimine was shown to be a promising encapsulating material for stretchable, healable, and recyclable TEGs. Herein, we report a recyclable, healable, and stretchable TEG (RHS-TEG), which integrates 200 pairs of commercial n/p Bi 2 Te 3 and Sb 2 Te 3 TE legs, intrinsically stretchable and self-healable liquid metal (LM) EGaIn interconnects, and dynamic covalent thermoset polyimine encapsulation, by employing low-cost and scalable laser processing, screen printing and flexible packaging techniques.…”

Stretchable, Rehealable, Recyclable, and Reconfigurable Integrated Strain Sensor for Joint Motion and Respiration Monitoring

“…Furthermore, adding 6%wt SiO 2 microparticles to LM increases the viscosity while maintaining the fluidity. This improves the printability, so that the mixed LM can be easily screen printed onto the polyimine film against a mask at room temperature [ 60 ]. Both subsystems are encapsulated by hyperelastic polyimine membranes (Young's modulus E = 2 MPa), which can be synthesized from commercially available monomers (Figure S1 ).…”

Recent advances in liquid-metal-based wearable electronics and materials

“…For most wearables, it is very natural that there are temperature differences between the inside that interfaces with body and the outside that is exposed to the surrounding condition. Consequently, to make use of the heat waste coming from the body, thermoelectric wearables have drawn much attention recently, but there are two major requirements: i) soft compliant thermally conductive layer and ii) soft circuitry array because a conventional thermoelectric generator has brittle and rigid thermally conductive ceramics or metals at the top and bottom and a circuit that is not stretchable ( Hong et al., 2019 ; Lee et al., 2020b ; Oh et al., 2016 ; Ren et al., 2021 ; Suarez et al., 2017 ; Sun et al., 2020a ).…”