Thermoelectricity fills the niche market of long-term energy supply and waste heat recovery by directly converting thermal energy into electricity. However, body temperature has not been widely used because of the incompatibility between rigid commercial thermoelectric modules and curved hot surfaces. Herein, we report polyaniline (PANi), an accessible conjugated polymer, and its composite with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) as thermoelectric materials. The π-π interaction between PANi and MWNTs facilitated the molecular alignment during in-situ polymerization (Figure 1a), reaching a high power-factor and improved mechanical robustness. The PANi/MWNTs hybrids formed a gill-mimicking flexible thermoelectric generator (fTEG) with the assistance of 3D printing. The printed structure showed durability over 1000 bending cycles and efficiently generated voltage from low temperature (&lt;= 100 <sup>o</sup>C) surfaces, e.g., car roofs and human skins. Additionally, the fTEG can power sensing systems that reveal biosignals, e.g., joint movement and respiration, with strain sensors. This project bridges the molecular-level polymer-nanoparticle hybridization to the device-level unit. Its application on human bodies sheds light on health monitoring, wearable electronics, Internet-of-things, and human-computer interaction.

A 3D printing-enabled thermoelectric generator for self-powered wearable devices

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.