Flexible thermoelectric device and preparation method thereof

Abstract

A flexible thermoelectric device comprises at least two power generation units arranged according to a design pattern; the power generation unit comprises a first electrode group, a thermoelectric leggroup and a second electrode group which are arranged in sequence; the thermoelectric leg group is provided with at least two thermoelectric leg pairs which are arranged at intervals, and each thermoelectric leg pair comprises a first type thermoelectric leg and a second type thermoelectric leg which are the same in size; one end of each pair of the first type thermoelectric leg and the second type thermoelectric leg is electrically connected with the corresponding same first flexible electrode; the second electrode group comprises second flexible electrodes in one-to-one correspondence withthe first type thermoelectric legs in the thermoelectric leg pair and third flexible electrodes in one-to-one correspondence with the second type thermoelectric legs; the other ends of the first typethermoelectric legs are electrically connected with the corresponding second flexible electrodes, and the other ends of the second type thermoelectric legs are electrically connected with the corresponding third flexible electrodes; the at least two power generation units are sequentially connected in series. The flexible thermoelectric device has double-sided bending and stretching capabilities,and is better combined with a heat source.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the field of thermoelectric technology, in particular to a flexible thermoelectric device and a preparation method thereof. Background technique [0002] With the emergence of the Internet of Things era and the widespread use of electronic devices that can communicate anytime, anywhere, people are increasingly interested in wearable electronic systems, which play an important role in the fields of human prosthetics, electronic skin, and robots. application prospects. But before wearable electronic systems can be widely used, they must overcome the problem of frequent charging. The most effective way to solve this problem is to combine energy harvesting devices with wearable electronics, making it a self-powered system. [0003] In the aforementioned self-powered systems, thermoelectric devices (TEGs) are considered to be excellent energy supply modules in energy harvesting devices. Thermoelectric devices can convert the heat...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although rigid materials such as ceramics have high thermal conductivity, rigid materials also have the characteristics of non-stretchability and high brittleness. These defects prevent current thermoelectric devices from being tightly bonded to various shapes and complex surfaces, resulting in thermoelectric devices. Make full use of the heat produced by the human body, which limits the application range of thermoelectric devices

[0005] In order to realize the structure of flexible thermoelectric devices, domestic and foreign technicians have developed some flexible thermoelectric devices. For example, the authorized patent CN 106206923B proposes a thermoelectric device that replaces traditional commercial ceramic hard substrates with thermally conductive silica gel and uses textile gauze to toughen. Thermoelectric devices usually require a high temperature environment during the welding process, and under high temperature, textile cotton usually denatures and loses its supporting effect; the authorized patent CN104410331B proposes a method of punching holes in a flexible PDMS template and combining N-type and P-type thermoelectric Materials and binders are mixed and filled into the holes and poured into thermoelectric legs. This method can effectively obtain the flexibility of the device, but this will lose the thermoelectric performance of the thermoelectric device, resulting in low output power; the authorized patent CN107046092B proposes a The flexible wearable device with a hollow structure base can make the whole device have a certain flexibility by hollowing out the substrate. However, because the thermoelectric material used in the device is very fragile, when the thermoelectric device is subjected to repeated bending deformation, it will break down between the electrodes and the thermoelectric legs. fracture at the interface

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