Milliwatt-scale 3D thermoelectric generators via additive screen printing

doi:10.1039/D5EE01151E

Milliwatt-scale 3D thermoelectric generators via additive screen printing

2025-07-23

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Md Mofasser Mallick *

DOI：10.1039/D5EE01151E

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Electronic components driving digitalization; such as wearables; Internet of Things (IoT); and Industry 4.0 systems; consume a growing portion of the global primary energy; largely relying on lithium-ion batteries. To enable a sustainable alternative; we explore cost-effective; fully printed thermoelectric generators (TEGs); which can be an alternative to batteries in low-power electronics. We here report a promising additive screen-printing method to fabricate two printed 3D TEGs (print-TEG I and print-TEG II) with varying thermocouple counts and a 0.36 fill factor; overcoming high contact resistance and thickness limitations. The print-TEGs were prepared via layer-by-layer printing of electrodes; interlayers; and n- and p-type legs; with six different layouts. Printed Ag2Se as n-type legs and Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 as p-type legs were used for TEG fabrication. The print-TEG II with 50 thermocouples generates a maximum power output Pmax of 1.22 mW with an open circuit voltage; VOC of 268 mV for ΔT = 43 K. The print-TEG shows a highest power density Pd of 67 μW cm−2 (>400 μW g−1) for a fully printed planar TEG. The results demonstrate the potential of print-TEGs as a steadfast power source; guaranteeing nonstop operation of low-power electronic devices.

Keywords:

thermoelectric generators

printed electronics

energy harvesting

low-power devices

sustainable energy

Milliwatt-scale 3D thermoelectric generators via additive screen printing

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