A Review on the Fabrication of Polymer‐Based Thermoelectric Materials and Fabrication Methods

Abstract

Thermoelectricity, by converting heat energy directly into useable electricity, offers a promising technology to convert heat from solar energy and to recover waste heat from industrial sectors and automobile exhausts. In recent years, most of the efforts have been done on improving the thermoelectric efficiency using different approaches, that is, nanostructuring, doping, molecular rattling, and nanocomposite formation. The applications of thermoelectric polymers at low temperatures, especially conducting polymers, have shown various advantages such as easy and low cost of fabrication, light weight, and flexibility. In this review, we will focus on exploring new types of polymers and the effects of different structures, concentrations, and molecular weight on thermoelectric properties. Various strategies to improve the performance of thermoelectric materials will be discussed. In addition, a discussion on the fabrication of thermoelectric devices, especially suited to polymers, will also be given. Finally, we provide the challenge and the future of thermoelectric polymers, especially thermoelectric hybrid model.

A review of carrier thermoelectric-transport theory in organic semiconductors

“…Organic semiconductors are mainly based on earth-abundant elements, that is, C, H, and O. Although compared with inorganic thermoelectric materials, the organic semiconductors still exhibit a lower ZT (approximately 0.5) so far [23][24][25], there are several more advantages in organic semiconductors instead of inorganic materials [26][27][28][29], for example, the non scarcity of raw materials, the non toxicity, and the large area applications, etc. Due to these excellent properties, along with their specific charge thermoelectric transport properties, organic semiconductors are of growing interest in some cases unique for various applications, particularly for thermoelectric 5 / 56 theoretical description of thermoelectric technology in organic semiconductors [45,52,53], however, the current reviews inclined to the scope of organic crystal materials, as well as the thermoelectric figure of merit.…”

Flexible thermoelectric materials and device optimization for wearable energy harvesting

“…[86] The potential of screen printing can be magnified when coupled with the roll-to-roll (R2R) process that is capable of continuously manufacturing meter-long modules. [99] The advantages of inkjet printing include minimal human labor requirement, high precision dispensing and little material waste. Another interesting technique is inkjet printing, where the original ink cartridge is replaced by the thermoelectric material formulation, which is later dispensed onto substrates following the patterns preset by a controlling computer.…”

The effect of synthesis technique on thermoelectric properties of nanocrystalline NaCo2O4 ceramics

“…Low thermal conductivity composites are desirable for thermoelectric applications. Thermal conductivity of sintered electrospun nanofibrous powder samples may be decreased through phonon blocking/scattering effects through the use of a nanoscale system such as nanocrystalline composite structure (Kamarudin et al 2013;Dresselhaus et al 2001). It is known that the phonons that carry most of the heat have mean free paths typically ranging from several nanometers up to a few hundred nanometers, whereas the mean free path of electrons is typically only a few nanometers (Chen et al 2012;Tervo et al 2009).…”