Enhanced thermoelectric performance of UV-curable silver (I) selenide-based composite for energy harvesting

Dabin Park,Jooheon Kim,Seonmin Lee

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-96267-x

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) composites, with photocured resin as the matrix and Ag2Se (AS) as the filler, are synthesized by a digital-light-processing (DLP) based 3D printer. The mixture of diurethane dimethacrylate (DUDMA) and isobornyl acrylate (IBOA) is used as a UV-curable resin because of their low viscosity and high miscibility. Scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images confirm that the filler retains its shape and remains after the UV-curing process. After completing curing, the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of the composite with different AS contents were measured. The addition of the AS filler increases the thermoelectric properties of the cured resin. When the AS contents increase by 30 wt.%, the maximum power factor was obtained (~ 51.5 μW/m·K2 at room temperature). Additionally, due to the phonon scattering effect between the interfaces, the thermal conductivity of composite is lower than that of pristine photoresin. The maximum thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) is ~ 0.12, which is achieved with 30 wt.% of AS at 300 K with the enhanced power factor and reduced thermal conductivity. This study presents a novel manufacturing method for a thermoelectric composite using 3D printing.

Highlights

Thermoelectric (TE) is a phenomenon that can convert heat directly into electricity and vice versa, which is attractive because it generates electricity from waste heat energy and provides environmentally friendly cooling[1,2,3,4,5]
Among the inorganic materials used in these TE composites, silver selenide (Ag2Se) is an N-type semiconducting materials that is widely used as TE materials because of its high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity at room temperature
The formulation of the photoresin used in this study consists of a urethane monomer of diurethane dimethacrylate (DUDMA), a crosslinker of isobornyl acrylate (IBOA), and a photoinitiator of BAPO

Summary

Introduction

Thermoelectric (TE) is a phenomenon that can convert heat directly into electricity and vice versa, which is attractive because it generates electricity from waste heat energy and provides environmentally friendly cooling[1,2,3,4,5]. Half-heuslers[16], and semiconductor materials contain Te and Se alloys (Bi2Te3, SnSe, C u2Te, and PbTe)[17,18,19,20,21] These pristine inorganic-based TE materials are brittle and rigid, making it difficult to manufacture flexible or wearable TE devices. Among the inorganic materials used in these TE composites, silver selenide (Ag2Se) is an N-type semiconducting materials that is widely used as TE materials because of its high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity at room temperature. Jiang et al.[22] fabricated a flexible TE film with a PVP/Ag2Se composite and achieved an outstanding power factor with ~ 1910 μW/m·K2 at room temperature. By making photocured resins containing various fillers, composites for specific purposes can be printed

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