Abstract
Assembling thermoelectric modules into fabric to harvest energy from body heat could one day power multitudinous wearable electronics. However, the invalid 2D architecture of fabric limits the application in thermoelectrics. Here, we make the valid thermoelectric fabric woven out of thermoelectric fibers producing an unobtrusive working thermoelectric module. Alternately doped carbon nanotube fibers wrapped with acrylic fibers are woven into π-type thermoelectric modules. Utilizing elasticity originating from interlocked thermoelectric modules, stretchable 3D thermoelectric generators without substrate can be made to enable sufficient alignment with the heat flow direction. The textile generator shows a peak power density of 70 mWm−2 for a temperature difference of 44 K and excellent stretchability (~80% strain) with no output degradation. The compatibility between body movement and sustained power supply is further displayed. The generators described here are true textiles, proving active thermoelectrics can be woven into various fabric architectures for sensing, energy harvesting, or thermal management.
Highlights
Assembling thermoelectric modules into fabric to harvest energy from body heat could one day power multitudinous wearable electronics
The carbon nanotube fibers (CNTF) used in this paper was prepared by twisting four carbon nanotube (CNT) films synthesized by a floating catalyst method[24], aiming at enhancing the tensile strength for subsequential weaving
It can be seen from the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) image (Supplementary Fig. 1a, b) that the CNTF was ~280 μm in diameter composed of thousands of multiwalled CNTs with ~11 nm diameter
Summary
Assembling thermoelectric modules into fabric to harvest energy from body heat could one day power multitudinous wearable electronics. Integrating the high TE performance π-type modules into the logical architecture design contributes to a superior power density of 70 mWm−2 at 44 K, which is the highest output reported for a flexible organic TEG.
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