Recent Advances in Functional Thermoelectric Materials for Printed Electronics

Abstract

For the last fifty years, flexible thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have been envisaged as alternatives to feed low-power electronic devices aiming self-powered mobiles. Moreover, nowadays, TEGs are produced with traditional manufacturing techniques, which hamper large-scale production. Solution-based printing processes ensure low cost and provide upscaling opportunities to industrial standards. Therefore, high-performance printed TEGs are underway and, in the future, could be largely implemented in the market. This chapter covers the recent advances in printed TEGs going from pristine materials to ink formulations, as well as the choice of the appropriate printing technique. Therefore, special attention will be devoted to the use of inorganic thermoelectric (TE) materials with high figure of merit and the required physical and chemical properties to combine those with other materials (e.g., binders and/or additives) to produce suitable printable ink. Finally, the new trends in this field and the practical applications of micro-TEGs will be discussed.