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Inkjet Printing of Single‐Crystalline Bi 2 Te 3 Thermoelectric Nanowire Networks
Author(s) -
Chen Bolin,
Das Suprem R.,
Zheng Wei,
Zhu Bowen,
Xu Biao,
Hong Sungbum,
Sun Chenghan,
Wang Xinwei,
Wu Yue,
Claussen Jonathan C.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced electronic materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.25
H-Index - 56
ISSN - 2199-160X
DOI - 10.1002/aelm.201600524
Subject(s) - materials science , thermoelectric effect , thermoelectric materials , thermoelectric generator , nanowire , nanotechnology , fabrication , seebeck coefficient , nanomaterials , telluride , bismuth telluride , composite material , metallurgy , thermal conductivity , medicine , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , thermodynamics
Large‐scale and low‐cost fabrication techniques are needed to commercialize highly efficient, nanomaterial‐based thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for use in small‐scale, flexible applications (e.g., wearable energy harvesters). This study presents the first demonstration of inkjet‐printed networks of phase‐pure, single‐crystalline Bi 2 Te 3 thermoelectric nanowires (BTNWs) that are amenable to large‐scale production. The BTNWs are synthesized via chemical batch processing and formulated into a jettable ink that is printed onto glass substrates and subsequently annealed in nitrogen and forming gas environments. The inkjet‐printed BTNWs annealed in forming gas provide the most favorable results with comparable thermoelectric performances to bulk Bi 2 Te 3 materials (Seebeck coefficient up to 140 µV K −1 ) while approximately utilizing only 1% to 3% of the telluride materials found in their bulk counterparts. Thus, these printed BTNWs help pave the way for the development of low‐cost and scalable TEGs.