Design and Integration of Flexible and Stretchable Micro-Thermoelectric Devices

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2022.00171

Acta Metall Sin

2024, Vol. 60

Issue (3): 348-356 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2022.00171

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Design and Integration of Flexible and Stretchable Micro-Thermoelectric Devices

LIU Rui¹^,², YU Zhi², ZHAO Yang², LI Xiaoqi², YU Hailong², HE Juan², NIE Pengcheng², WANG Chunyu², TAI Kaiping²^,³(

), LIU Chang²(

)

¹College of Science, Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, Shenyang 110142, China
²Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
³Liaoning Professional Technology Innovation Center for Integrated Circuit Thermal Management, Liaoning Lengxin Semiconductor Technology Co. Ltd., Shenyang 110172, China

Cite this article:

LIU Rui, YU Zhi, ZHAO Yang, LI Xiaoqi, YU Hailong, HE Juan, NIE Pengcheng, WANG Chunyu, TAI Kaiping, LIU Chang. Design and Integration of Flexible and Stretchable Micro-Thermoelectric Devices. Acta Metall Sin, 2024, 60(3): 348-356.

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Abstract

A miniature flexible thermoelectric generator with a stretchable three-dimensional (3D) arch structure is designed using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a substrate and the excellent thermoelectric properties and flexibility of single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT)/Bi₂Te₃ thermoelectric hybrid film. The device fully utilizes optimal in-plane thermoelectric performance direction of the film material and obtains electro-thermal conversion through temperature differences between the inside and outside of the device plane. Therefore, thermoelectric potential is generated at both ends of the electrode to achieve power generation. When the temperature difference was 4 K, the output voltage is 4.8 mV, the maximum output power is 2.6 × 10^-9 W, the power density is 3.9 × 10^-9 W/cm², and the minimum bending radius of the device can reach 3 mm. The fabrication process for this miniature flexible thermoelectric device is simple, feasible, and low-cost, providing a new avenue for developing flexible thermoelectric thin-film power generation devices.

Key words: SWCNT/Bi₂Te₃ thermoelectric hybrid film stretchable and deformable flexible thermoelectric device

Received: 17 April 2022

ZTFLH:

TB383.2

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52073290);National Natural Science Foundation of China(51927803);Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Liaoning Province(2023JH6/100500004);Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province(2022-MS-011);Shenyang Science and Technology Plan Project(23-407-3-23)

Corresponding Authors: TAI Kaiping, professor, Tel: 18640320728, E-mail: kptai@imr.ac.cn; LIU Chang, professor, Tel: 18640219199, E-mail: cliu@imr.ac.cn

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	Articles by authors
	LIU Rui
	YU Zhi
	ZHAO Yang
	LI Xiaoqi
	YU Hailong
	HE Juan
	NIE Pengcheng
	WANG Chunyu
	TAI Kaiping
	LIU Chang

URL:

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2022.00171 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2024/V60/I3/348

Fig.1 Design diagrams of the thin-film thermoelectric device (a) and the 3D arch thermoelectric thin-film device (PDMS—polydimethylsiloxane, SWCNT—single-wall carbon nanotube) (b)

Fig.2 Flow chart of the fabrication of micro-flexible thermoelectric devices
(a) preparation of PDMS flexible substrate (b) transfer thermoelectric films
(c) deposition of gold electrodes (d) three-dimensional thermal electric generator (TEG) device

Fig.3 Schematics of the fabrication of stretchable and deformable arch PDMS substrate (a1-a6) cross-sectional flow charts of arch PDMS substrate fabrication (a1) stretch PDMS (a2) attach sacrificial layer metal foil(a3) pouring, scraping, and curing PDMS (a4) attach support sheet metal(a5) pouring, scraping, and curing PDMS again (a6) erosion of sacrificial metal flakes (b1, b2) patterned metal zinc flakes for sacrificial metal layer (b1) and supporting metal layer (b2) (c) stretchable deformable arch PDMS substrate

Fig.4 Flexible, stretchable, and deformable micro thermoelectric power generation device

Fig.5 XRD spectra of SWCNT/Bi₂Te₃ composite film (a) and SWCNT/Sb_1.5Bi_0.5Te₃ composite film (b)

Fig.6 SEM images of SWCNT/Bi₂Te₃ composite film with deposition time of 3600 s (a) and SWCNT/Sb_1.5Bi_0.5Te₃ composite film with deposition time of 2100 s (b)

Fig.7 Thermoelectric properties of n-type SWCNT/Bi₂Te₃ composite film (a, c, e) and p-type SWCNT/Sb_1.5Bi_0.5Te₃ composite film (b, d, f) (a, b) Seebeck coefficient (α) (c, d) electrical conductivity (σ) (e, f) power factor (α²σ)

Fig.8 Schematic of the test of the miniature flexible thermoelectric device

Fig.9 Power generation performances of the micro-flexible thermoelectric device
(a) output voltage generated by the micro-flexible thermoelectric device at different temperature differences (ΔT)
(b) changes of power generation performance during the stretching process of the device (Insets show schematic of the tensile deformation of the device and the physical picture of the device under the maximum tensile amount (L / L₀ = 1.6),where L₀ and L are the lengths of the micro-flexible thermoelectric device before and after stretching, respectively; R₀ and R are the resistances of the micro-flexible thermoelectric device before and after stretching, respectively)
(c) normalized output voltages of the devices were compared to several literature data^{[26,28,29,33]}
(d) curves of the output voltage (hollow symbols) and output power (solid symbols) of the micro-flexible thermoelectric device at different ΔT as a function of the output current

Fig.10 Flexibility test charts of the micro flexible thermoelectric device
(a) schematic side view of the device during bend testing (r—bending radius)
(b) flexible demonstration of the device attached to glassware with a radius of 3 mm
(c) graph of the relative change in R / R₀ of the device at different bending radii

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