No abstract

Flexible thermoelectric materials have attracted increasing interest because of their potential use in thermal energy harvesting and high‐spatial‐resolution thermal management. However, a high‐performance flexible micro‐thermoelectric device (TED) compatible with the microelectronics fabrication process has not yet been developed. Here we report a universal epitaxial growth strategy guided by one‐dimensional van der Waals‐coupling, to fabricate freestanding and flexible hybrids comprised of single‐wall carbon nanotubes and ordered (Bi,Sb)2Te3 nanocrystals. High power factors ranging from ∼1680 to ∼1020 μW m−1 K−2 in the temperature range of 300 K to 480 K, combined with a low thermal conductivity yield a high average figure of merit of ∼0.81. The fabricated flexible micro‐TED module consisting of two p‐n couples of freestanding thermoelectric hybrids has an unprecedented open circuit voltage of ∼22.7 mV and a power density of ∼0.36 W cm−2 under a ∼30 K temperature difference, and a net cooling temperature of ∼22.4 K and a heat absorption density of ∼92.5 W cm−2.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

No abstract

Flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials have attracted increasing interest due to their potential applications in energy harvesting and high-spatial-resolution thermal management. However, a high-performance flexible micro-TE device (TED) compatible with the modern electronics fabrication process has not yet been developed. Here we report a general van der Waals epitaxial growth approach to fabricating a freestanding and flexible hybrid comprised of single-wall carbon nanotubes and highly ordered (Bi,Sb)2Te3 nanocrystals. High power factors ranging from ~1,680 to ~1,020 µW m−1 K−2 in the temperature range of 300-480 K, combined with a strongly depressed thermal conductivity yield an average figure of merit of ~0.81. A prototype flexible micro-TED module consisting of two p-n hybrids was then fabricated, which demonstrated an unprecedented open circuit voltage of ~22.7 mV and a power density of ~0.36 W cm−2 under a ~30 K temperature difference, and a net cooling temperature of ~22.4 K and a heat absorption density of ~92.5 W cm−2.