Fabrication of a thermoelectric generator on a polymer-coated substrate via laser-induced forward transfer of chalcogenide thin films

Abstract

We have demonstrated the fabrication of a thermoelectric energy harvesting device via laser-induced forward transfer of intact solid thin films. Thermoelectric chalcogenide materials, namely bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) and bismuth antimony telluride (Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3), were sequentially printed using a nanosecond excimer laser onto an elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane-coated glass substrate to form thermocouples connected in series creating a thermoelectric generator. The resulting generator Seebeck coefficient and series resistance per leg pair were measured to be 0.17 mV K−1 and 10 kΩ respectively. It was shown that laser-induced forward transfer allows device fabrication from inorganic semiconductor compounds on inexpensive elastic polymer substrates and demonstrates the ability to print materials with pre-defined thermoelectric properties. This allows the rapid manufacturing of a complete thermoelectric device on mm2-areas with μm-scale precision, without the need of further lithographic steps.