Thermoelectric Fabrics: Toward Power Generating Clothing

Du, Yong; Cai, Kefeng; Chen, Song; Wang, Hongxia; Shen, Shirley; Donelson, Richard; Lin, Tong

doi:10.1038/srep06411

Cited by 260 publications

(201 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…They are expected to play important roles in the development of a more sustainable energy landscape worldwide (Kraemer et al, 2011;Barma et al, 2015;Favarel et al, 2015;Mehdizadeh Dehkordi et al, 2015;Moraes et al, 2015;Gayner and Kar, 2016), and there are also opportunities for using them for onboard power for wearable electronics (Leonov and Vullers, 2009;Kim et al, 2014;Du et al, 2015), sensors, or systems for disaster mitigations Rais et al, 2016). However, the practical applications of TE devices has been largely impeded by the usually low energy conversion efficiency.…”

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confidence: 99%

First-Principles Calculations of Thermoelectric Properties of IV–VI Chalcogenides 2D Materials

et al. 2017

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A first-principles study using density functional theory and Boltzmann transport theory has been performed to evaluate the thermoelectric (TE) properties of a series of single-layer 2D materials. The compounds studied are SnSe, SnS, GeS, GeSe, SnSe2, and SnS2, all of which belong to the IV-VI chalcogenides family. The first four compounds have orthorhombic crystal structures, and the last two have hexagonal crystal structures. Solving a semi-empirical Boltzmann transport model through the BoltzTraP software, we compute the electrical properties, including Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, power factor, and the electronic thermal conductivity, at three doping levels corresponding to 300 K carrier concentrations of 10 . The spin orbit coupling effect on these properties is evaluated and is found not to influence the results significantly. First-principles lattice dynamics combined with the iterative solution of phonon Boltzmann transport equations are used to compute the lattice thermal conductivity of these materials. It is found that these materials have narrow band gaps in the range of 0.75-1.58 eV. Based on the highest values of figure-of-merit ZT of all the materials studied, we notice that the best TE material at the temperature range studied here (300-800 K) is SnSe.

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confidence: 99%

First-Principles Calculations of Thermoelectric Properties of IV–VI Chalcogenides 2D Materials

et al. 2017

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“…• C. 94 Other TEG devices have been demonstrated based on organic/polymeric TE materials with the potential to evolve into advanced stretchable devices, although their performance can be still greatly improved compared to inorganic TE materials. 95,96 Another set of materials with potential stretchable capabilities are nano-engineered and 2D materials, which have shown encouraging predictions in terms of performance and power generation.…”

Section: -91mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review—Micro and Nano-Engineering Enabled New Generation of Thermoelectric Generator Devices and Applications

Rojas

Singh

Inayat³

et al. 2017

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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As we are advancing our world to smart living, a critical challenge is increasingly pressing -increased energy demand. While we need mega power supplies for running data centers and other emerging applications, we also need instant small-scale power supply for trillions of electronics that we are using and will use in the age of Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Everything (IoE). Such power supplies must meet some parallel demands: sufficient energy supply in reliable, safe and affordable manner. In that regard, thermoelectric generators emerge as important renewable energy source with great potential to take advantage of the widely-abundant and normally-wasted thermal energy. Thanks to the advancements of nano-engineered materials, thermoelectric generators' (TEG) performance and feasibility are gradually improving. However, still innovative engineering solutions are scarce to sufficiently take the TEG performance and functionalities beyond the status-quo. Opportunities exist to integrate them with emerging fields and technologies such as wearable electronics, bio-integrated systems, cybernetics and others. This review will mainly focus on unorthodox but effective engineering solutions to notch up the overall performance of TEGs and broadening their application base. First, nanotechnology's influence in TEGs' development will be introduced, followed by a discussion on how the introduction of mechanically reconfigurable devices can shape up the emerging spectrum of novel TEG technologies. The technology-driven age we are currently in, have brought great advantages to establish a more comfortable and smarter living and it is leading the way for an even faster-growing development in all areas of science and engineering, but at the same time it brings an incredibly fast growing demand for energy. Current and future energy consumption mandate the need for alternative energy sources, with reduced environmental impact. Readily available solar and wind energies have lead the way as alternative energy sources to environmentally challenging fossil fuels.1 Moreover, thanks to more recent developments in thermoelectric (TE) materials and devices, the possibility of making a better use of the widely abundant and normally wasted thermal energy, has becoming a popular and feasible alternative.2 More importantly, thermal waste has become a very important and environmentallyfriendly source of otherwise wasted energy.3,4 There has been already an important set of studies covering the mechanism involved during the conversion from thermal to electric energy. [5][6][7][8] Such studies have been the starting point to develop and optimize novel TE materials with the resourceful aid of uprising nanotechnologies. 9,10 In this review, we will first shortly introduce some important basic concepts and relations about thermoelectrics, as well as some of the current efforts to use nanotechnologies and nano-materials to improve performance and viability. Next, we will focus on identifying innovative devices, novel engineering approach...

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“…Several efforts and techniques, ranging from system optimization to new materials, are being engineered to harvest this readily available energy, and mostly wasted, for useful purposes [28][29][30] . Moreover, applications where electronic devices are to be mounted on human skin, such as wearable electronics, can harvest energy from human heat for their operations [31][32][33][34] . Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are capable of harvesting energy through a temperature gradient, thus providing an environment friendly power source by harvesting this wasted energy 29,30,35 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Folding and stretching a thermoelectric generator

Rojas

Rehman

Albettar

et al. 2018

Micro- And Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications X

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Columbia, Canada V1V1V7. ABSTRACTAs we are at the verge of entering the era of Internet-of-Things (IoT), there is a clear need to produce continuous power supply to the huge amount of electronic devices that must be wirelessly interconnected and operate uninterruptedly. At the same time, new mechanical constrains arise from the fact that these devices should be ubiquitous, which leads to the need of lightweight and mechanical compliance to any shape or surface. As an important renewable energy source, a mechanically adaptable thermoelectric generator (TEG) can make use of the usually wasted thermal differences between ambient and technology-users to power-up such systems. With this idea in mind, we have developed a simple approach to fabricate TEGs, based on commonly available substrates (paper or polymers) and assisted through simple folding and cutting techniques (born from origami and kirigami) to form strategic structures (serpentine, helical, spiral, etc.) with the mechanical advantage of foldability and over 100% demonstrated stretchability. The use of these methods and structures allows the mechanical reconfigurability of the devices to, for example, increase the temperature difference in a TEG, thus its power, or allow a more efficient use of area and therefore increase the power density. We will discuss the strategies to effectively integrate folding and cutting techniques with common materials and the basic TEG configuration, as well as demonstrate the devices' implementation and characterization. Finally, we believe our simple integration approach offers an interesting and versatile methodology, which can be easily extrapolated to new materials and technologies for a greater variety of applications.

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Thermoelectric Fabrics: Toward Power Generating Clothing

Cited by 260 publications

References 34 publications

First-Principles Calculations of Thermoelectric Properties of IV–VI Chalcogenides 2D Materials

First-Principles Calculations of Thermoelectric Properties of IV–VI Chalcogenides 2D Materials

Review—Micro and Nano-Engineering Enabled New Generation of Thermoelectric Generator Devices and Applications

Folding and stretching a thermoelectric generator

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