Issue 14, 2023

Plasma-jet printing of colloidal thermoelectric Bi2Te3 nanoflakes for flexible energy harvesting

Abstract

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) convert temperature differences into electrical power and are attractive among energy harvesting devices due to their autonomous and silent operation. While thermoelectric materials have undergone substantial improvements in material properties, a reliable and cost-effective fabrication method suitable for microgravity and space applications remains a challenge, particularly as commercial space flight and extended crewed space missions increase in frequency. This paper demonstrates the use of plasma-jet printing (PJP), a gravity-independent, electromagnetic field-assisted printing technology, to deposit colloidal thermoelectric nanoflakes with engineered nanopores onto flexible substrates at room temperature. We observe substantial improvements in material adhesion and flexibility with less than 2% and 11% variation in performance after 10 000 bending cycles over 25 mm and 8 mm radii of curvature, respectively, as compared to previously reported TE films. Our printed films demonstrate electrical conductivity of 2.5 × 103 S m−1 and a power factor of 70 μW m−1 K−2 at room temperature. To our knowledge, these are the first reported values of plasma-jet printed thermoelectric nanomaterial films. This advancement in plasma jet printing significantly promotes the development of nanoengineered 2D and layered materials not only for energy harvesting but also for the development of large-scale flexible electronics and sensors for both space and commercial applications.

Graphical abstract: Plasma-jet printing of colloidal thermoelectric Bi2Te3 nanoflakes for flexible energy harvesting

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 11月 2022
Accepted
14 2月 2023
First published
21 2月 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 6596-6606

Plasma-jet printing of colloidal thermoelectric Bi2Te3 nanoflakes for flexible energy harvesting

J. Manzi, A. E. Weltner, T. Varghese, N. McKibben, M. Busuladzic-Begic, D. Estrada and H. Subbaraman, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 6596 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR06454E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements