Fabrication of π-type flexible thermoelectric generators using an electrochemical deposition method for thermal energy harvesting applications at room temperature

Abstract

Although the electrochemical deposition of thermoelectric materials is a potential method for applications such as flexible thermoelectric power generators (FTEGs), to date the use of this technique is limited. This paper demonstrates a new fabrication of self-supported π-type FTEGs using electrochemical deposition of thermoelectric materials. Two types of the devices based on Bi2Te3–Cu and Bi2Te3–Sb2Te3 have been fully completed and characterized. The Bi2Te3–Cu and Bi2Te3–Sb2Te3 devices consist of 24 pairs of thermocouples that can harvest thermal energy with output power densities of 1–4 µW cm−2 from temperature differences of approximately 2 °C–4 °C from the human body. The highly scalable and new devices demonstrated in this work open up opportunities for the applications of electrochemically deposited thermoelectric materials.