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Abstract
An innovative design of a thermoelectric micro-generator with integrated wavy-shaped Bi2Te3-based materials yields the highest output power achieved so far for an in-plane device.
Highlights
Wireless sensors, which nowadays provide direct information about our environment, see their impact on our society expanding
We reported on a novel architecture of a flexible μ-thermoelectric generator (TEG) exhibiting an overall vertical, in-plane configuration, which consists in wavy-shaped Bi2Te3-based TE materials deposited on laminated copper/polyimide/copper plates, with the copper plates favoring the heat transfer to the heat source and sink
In excellent agreement with numerical models based on finiteelement analyses, we demonstrate that high thermoelectric performances can be achieved near room temperature, with a high electrical power generation of 5.5 μW per thermocouple when operating under a temperature difference of only 5 K
Summary
Wireless sensors, which nowadays provide direct information about our environment, see their impact on our society expanding. A thermoelectric generator (TEG) consists of several thermocouples made of n- and p-type semiconducting legs connected electrically in series via metallic conductors and thermally in parallel.[15] Despite remarkable recent progress in the development of bulk, highly-efficient TEGs and flexible TEGs based on organic compounds,1618 a widespread use of this technology is still largely hampered by the low output power achieved due to the detrimental influence of contact resistances and the inherent difficulties in coupling these devices to their working environment. Conforming to the predictions of three-dimensional finite-element analyses, the normalized power density achieved is 38 W cm-2 K-2 for a temperature difference of 5 K around room temperature, that is, one of the highest value reported so far in the literature, despite the low filling rate of the TE elements (Figure 1b).[21,23,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43] This novel generation of μ-TEGs operating near room temperature offers an elegant solution for powering sensors in various industrial sectors, such as, e.g., gas pipe monitoring or bearing condition monitoring on trains, two applications where these devices are currently tested.[53]
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