Researchers Boast of "Breakthrough" in Flexible Thermoelectric Generators for Self-Powered Wearables

Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland, and the University of Surrey made made a breakthrough that, they say, bring wearable electronics entirely powered by waste body heat one step closer to reality.

"Flexible thermoelectric devices can be worn comfortably on the skin where they effectively turn the temperature difference between the human body and surrounding air into electricity," senior author Zhi-Gang Chen explains of the team's work. "We [have] created a printable A4-sized film with record-high thermoelectric performance, exceptional flexibility, scalability and low cost, making it one of the best flexible thermoelectrics available."

The screen-printed thermoelectric device created by the team is fully flexible, built using screen printing and solvothermal synthesis to form "nanobinders" — tiny crystals which form a consistent layer of bismith telluride on the sheets, allowing them to capture waste heat energy and turn it into a usable electric charge. The overall goal: wearable electronics that never need to be charged, though the team says the concept has applications further afield too.

"They could also be applied in a tight space, such as inside a computer or mobile phone, to help cool chips and improve performance," Chen claims of devices built from the team's material. "Other potential applications range from personal thermal management — where body heat could power a wearable heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. However, challenges like limited flexibility, complex manufacturing, high costs, and insufficient performance have hindered these devices from reaching commercial scale."

The researchers claim their breakthrough offers a possible solution to these roadblocks, delivering a high enough performance while still being fully flexible and relatively cheap to manufacture — though the team has yet to offer a suggested timescale for the technology to move from the lab to production. Investigations are underway, too, into the possibility of using the same approach with silver selenide to bring the cost down still further.

The team's work has been published in the journal Science under closed-access terms.