Printed polymer gels for thermoelectric applications – Manuscript Published in Nature Communications

All new printed gel electrolytes have been produced and published in Nature Communications for their use in temperature sensors based on tuneable thermoelectric properties. By adjustments in the gel composition, the materials can exhibit positive or negative Seebeck coefficient (a measure of a materials thermoelectric behaviour). Using screen printing techniques, the materials and devices can be easily manufactured in large area and at low cost production costs.

Here’s what lead author Dr Dan Zhao from Linkoping University had to say about her latest advance in thermoelectric technology:

‘Ionic thermoelectric materials attract little attention because it is difficult to directly harvest electric current from the ion thermodiffusion. However, the thermal voltage generated by these materials can be 100 times larger compared to the best reported electronic ones under same temperature difference, which makes them perfect candidates for heat/temperature sensing application. Moreover, the solution processability of the electrolytes also allows low-cost device manufacture. We believe that more and improved ionic thermoelectric materials will be developed in the future, and become more and more important in thermoelectric applications.’

Conceptualized.tech helped out with some figures to illustrate the screen-printing process and the image above for highlighting the materials used in the publications.

Read the entire article (open access) here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08930-7#MOESM1