Work

Development of Composite Thermocouple Materials Using PEDOT:PSS and Bi2Te3 for Wearables Thermopiles

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This paper presents results on the preparation of thermoelectric composite materials for flexible and wearable electronics applications. Composite materials in the form of pastes for screen printing or stencil printing were made from a mixture of PEDOT:PSS paste and Bi2Te3 powder. The pastes showed good adhesion both to polyimide foil (Kapton) and polyester fabric substrates. Depending on the composition and the substrate used, the pastes had a sheet resistance of 26–264 Ω/sq, a Seebeck coefficient of 14–45 μV/K and a power factor of 0.05–0.8 μW/mK2. The obtained pastes enabled the fabrication of textile thermopiles using Ag and PEDOT:PSS/Bi2Te3 materials for both arms. The output voltage of the obtained thermopiles on textile and foil substrates was 6–8 mV at a temperature gradient of 100 °C, and the output power was 0.01–0.12 μW. Energy harvesting from the human–ambient temperature gradient using the developed generators yielded promising results, with output voltages around 0.3 mV.

Source: Materials

DOI: 10.3390/ma18215046

Authors: Olga Rac-Rumijowska, Piotr Markowski, Karol Rauch, Patrycja Suchorska-Woźniak, Andrzej Dziedzic

Institution: Wrocław University of Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137