Bendable thermoelectric generators composed of p- and n-type silver chalcogenide nanoparticle thin films

Abstract

In this study, we design and construct lateral thermoelectric generators on bendable substrates with pairs of p-Ag2Te and n-Ag2Se chalcogenide nanoparticle (NP) thin films, and investigate their thermoelectric performances in ambient atmosphere. The individual Seebeck coefficient and lateral thermal conductivity are 1110 μV/K and 0.67 W/m K, respectively, for a single p-Ag2Te thin film, and − 290 μV/K and 0.55 W/m K, respectively, for a single n-Ag2Se NP thin film. A ring-shaped thermoelectric generator made with 50 pn modules of these NP thin films at a temperature difference of 15 K generates a Seebeck voltage of 1.16 V and an output power of 106 mW/cm2. Moreover, the mechanical durability of our thermoelectric generator is verified by repeated bending tests of up to 5000 cycles.