High-Performance Flexible Thermoelectric Generator via Rapid Evaporation of Nanocrystalline Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>-Alloy Films
We demonstrate a high-performance flexible thermoelectric generator (FTEG) using nanocrystalline p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 films deposited on polymer (PET) via rapid thermal evaporation (RTE) at room temperature. Without any annealing, these ∼1 μm films reach power factors of ∼1.5 and ∼1.2 mW·m–1·K–2 at 200 °C─among the highest for flexible Bi2Te3-based films. A 10-couple device yields ∼61 mV (446 nW) at ΔT = 25 °C and ∼13 mV at ∼10 °C on skin, demonstrating viable body-heat harvesting. RTE involves no high-temperature steps and is compatible with scalable, low-cost fabrication of wearable power sources.
Authors
- D. Alagarasan
- Vijayeta Pal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0782-0779)
- Bhuvanesh Srinivasan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4472-2780)
- K. Ramesh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8304-6500)
- Rapaka S Chandra Bose (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3893-9676)
- Sochannao Machinao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7647-8214)
- Varun Thottathil Sasi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6268-5315)
- Rasmi Thushara
- Anoop Anchara Veettil
- Malini Kalappattil Aravindan
Institutions
- University of Calicut (IN)
- National Institute of Technology Calicut (IN)
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IN)
- ASA College (US)
- Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (IN)
- Svenska Aerogel (Sweden) (SE)
- Advanced Materials and Devices (United States) (US)
- AER Group (United States) (US)
- Indian Institute of Technology BHU (IN)
- Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IN)
- Banaras Hindu University (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Energy Materials
- Published
- 2025-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.5c02289
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.04