Designing thermoelectric generators for self-powered wearable electronics

Suarez, Francisco; Nozariasbmarz, Amin; Vashaee, Daryoosh; Öztürk, Mehmet C.

doi:10.1039/c6ee00456c

Cited by 348 publications

(311 citation statements)

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“…Suarez et al showed that when the material ZT is fixed, as the thermal conductivity of the material decreases, power density generated from body heat increases [20]. However, while this result emphasizes the importance of material thermal conductivity in device simulations, it does not suggest how this affects the engineering of the materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…In previous research, it was shown that low thermal conductivity is advantageous for energy harvesting on the human body while the ZT remains at the same value [20]. However, in the practical engineering of a material, such as doping level control, ZT also changes while the thermal conductivity is adjusted [39].…”

Section: Carrier Concentration Difference Between Maximum Zt and Maximentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These conditions are based on a device that can be used in practical applications on the human body. The fill factor (FF) is lower than that of commercial devices because the optimum FF in the human body application is much lower than the FF of commercial devices [20]. Table 2 shows the conditions related to environments of human body application.…”

Section: Device Simulation In the Human Body Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A thermal resistance model based on previous studies [18,20] was used, as shown in Figure 1b. The Peltier effect and load matching were considered while Joule heat was negligible in the model.…”

Section: Device Simulation In the Human Body Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The optimum conditions regarding device structure have been studied to generate maximum power density on the human body. Variables related to the device structure and the environment such as the fill factor and the TE leg height were optimized for human body application [19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Material Optimization for a High Power Thermoelectric Generator in Wearable Applications

et al. 2017

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Thermoelectric power generation using human body heat can be applied to wearable sensors, and various applications are possible. Because the thermoelectric generator (TEG) is highly dependent on the thermoelectric material, research on improving the performance of the thermoelectric material has been conducted. Thus far, in developing thermoelectric materials, the researchers have focused on improving the figure of merit, ZT. For a TEG placed on the human body, however, the power density does not always increase as the material ZT increases. In this study, the material properties and ZT of P-type BiSbTe 3 were simulated for carrier concentration ranging from 3 × 10 17 to 3 × 10 20 cm −3 , and the power density of a TEG fabricated from the material dataset was calculated using a thermoelectric resistance model for human body application. The results revealed that the maximum ZT and the maximum power density were formed at different carrier concentrations. The material with maximum ZT showed 28.8% lower power density compared to the maximum obtainable power density. Further analysis confirmed that the mismatch in the optimum carrier concentration for the maximum ZT and maximum power density can be minimized when a material with lower thermal conductivity is used in a TEG. This study shows that the ZT enhancement of materials is not the highest priority in the production of a TEG for human body application, and material engineering to lower the thermal conductivity is required to reduce the optimum point mismatch problem.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Carrier Concentration Difference Between Maximum Zt and Maximentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Device Simulation In the Human Body Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Device Simulation In the Human Body Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%