Journal
NANO RESEARCH
Volume 14, Issue 7, Pages 2090-2104Publisher
TSINGHUA UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-020-3195-9
Keywords
flexible; wearable; thermoelectric device; pattern; contact
Categories
Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China [2015CB932600]
- National Key RAMP
- D Program of China [2017YFA0208000]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21525523, 21802130, 21874121, 21722507, 21574048, 21475029, 91427302]
- National Key Basic Research Program of China [2014CB931801, 2016YFA0200700]
- Frontier Science Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [QYZDJ-SSW-SLH038]
- Instrument Developing Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [YZ201311]
- CAS-CSIRO Cooperative Research Program [GJHZ1503]
- Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDA09040100]
- K. C. Wong Education Foundation
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) [CUG170669]
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This paper reviews the advancements in the design of flexible inorganic TE devices over the last decade, focusing on flexible thin-film TE devices and wearable TE devices. The key research areas include the design of leg patterns, electrical and thermal contact, substrate and encapsulation materials, as well as the characterization of device flexibility and current applications.
Thermoelectric (TE) devices can realize the conversion of heat energy and electrical power based on Seebeck effect and Peltier effect. Among them, flexible TE devices have received more attention recently due to their better attachment to various heat sources and aimed components with arbitrary shapes. To improve the performance of flexible TE devices for various application scenarios, large efforts have been made to design the leg patterns, the electrical and thermal contact issues, and the substrate and encapsulation materials for the decrease of heat loss. This paper is to review the advancements about the design of flexible inorganic TE devices over the last decade. Firstly, the design of flexible thin-film TE devices based on the direction of temperature gradient, including the patterns of TE legs, the fabrication methods, and the flexible substrate materials is summarized. Secondly, the design of wearable TE devices that contains common architecture of the module, the substrates and encapsulations, the electrical and thermal contact, and some thin-film based wearable devices with curving TE legs is demonstrated. Thirdly, the characterizations of the flexibility of TE devices and the current applications are outlined. Moreover, some views about the future development for TE devices are proposed.
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