Converting body heat into electricity: A step closer towards high-performance organic thermoelectrics

Science Daily  April 4, 2022 Researchers in Germany investigated the charge and thermoelectric transport in modulation-doped large-area rubrene thin-film crystals with different crystal phases. They showed that modulation doping allows achieving superior doping efficiencies even for high doping densities when conventional bulk doping runs into the reserve regime. Modulation-doped orthorhombic rubrene achieved much improved thermoelectric power factors. Modulation doping technique avoid impurity scattering in the highly ordered undoped narrow bandgap semiconductor allowing both carrier concentration and mobility to be independently maximized. The work paves new ways to achieve flexible thermoelectric devices to directly generate electrical power from heat in an […]

High-power thermoelectric generator utilizes thermal difference of only 5C

Phys.org  July 6, 2018 Long silicon nanowires needed in the silicon-based thermoelectric generators to secure temperature difference across the silicon wire weakens the strength of the devices. To overcome this, researchers developed thermoelectric generator eliminating the cavity structure but instead shortened the silicon nanowires to 0.25 nanometers. Thermal resistance was suppressed, and the power density multiplied ten times by thinning the generator’s silicon substrate from the conventional 750 nanometers to 50 nanometers with backside grinding. The device has applications in IoT… read more.