Flexible thermoelectric generator for human body heat energy harvesting

Abstract

A report is presented on a thermoelectric generator used for harvesting heat energy from a human body. The proposed thermoelectric generator comprises a polydimethylsiloxane substrate and thermoelectric materials. The use of polydimethylsiloxane provides flexibility to the thermoelectric generator. Another advantage of using a polydimethylsiloxane substrate is that it has low thermal conductivity; this can help minimise losses in the effective heat flowing through the active thermoelectric materials. The proposed thermoelectric generator was easily fabricated using dispenser printing for thermoelectric materials. The fabricated thermoelectric generator was attached to the human body for generating electrical energy. When the temperature difference between the human body and ambient air was 19 K, the output power of the thermoelectric generator was 2.1 μW.