Low-cost flexible thin film thermoelectric generator on zinc based thermoelectric materials

The high cost and complex production technique restrict the use of the conventional thermoelectric generators. In this work, we demonstrate a promising flexible thin film thermoelectric generator using the N-type Al-doped ZnO and P-type Zn-Sb based thin film. By using the cost-effective zinc based thermoelectric materials and flexible substrate, we greatly reduce the cost production of thin film thermoelectric generator. The maximum output power of our device with 10 couples is 246.3 mu W when the temperature difference is 180 K. The maximum output power of the flexible thin film thermoelectric generator produced per couple and per unit temperature difference was 0.14 mu W per K-couple, which is about several times that of other thin film reported. The thin film thermoelectric generator with low cost and excellent output power was fabricated on flexible substrate, which is can be made into various shapes for micro-and nano-energy application. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.