Multifunctional Flexible Thermoelectric Fabric for Smart Wearables
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Wearable thermoelectrics can convert waste heat from the human body and its microenvironment into electrical energy, potentially driving fields such as intelligent sensing, health monitoring, and dynamic protection. However, they are often limited by trade‐offs between performance, comfort, and functionality, which restrict their practical application in smart wearable devices. Here, we report a multifunctional thermoelectric fabric that integrates heat, electricity, and magnetism, fabricated using advanced textile design. The fabric's normal thickness facilitates the construction of a stable temperature difference, enabling temperature sensing with an accuracy of 0.1 K. Through fabric structural design, the thermoelectric device also achieves dual‐parameter sensing with record‐breaking stability (> 10,000 temperature cycles; > 20,000 compression‐release cycles), ultrafast rebound speed (14 ms), and excellent breathability (321 mm/s). More importantly, the thermoelectric substrate also exhibits strong electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance (50.82 dB shielding effectiveness), blocking interference and radiation in both directions, while its clothing‐compatible flexibility ensures wearing comfort. By integrating thermoelectric power generation, multiphysics sensing, and EMI protection into a single composite fabric, this work overcomes the application limitations of traditional flexible electronics and opens up a new paradigm for the functional expansion of flexible thermoelectric materials.
Source: Carbon Energy
DOI: 10.1002/cey2.70255
Authors: Jia Wu, Yan Dong, Bingyi Li, Linlin Zhang, Wuwei Bao, Cheng Zhang, Yao Wang, Miao Miao, Man Zhou, Yifan Cui, Xinyang He
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,200
OpenAlex ID: W7166199371