Ao Dongwei, Liu Wei-Di, Ma Fan, Bao Wenke, Chen Yuexing
School of Machinery and Automation, Weifang University, Weifang 261061, China.
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Sep 17;13(9):1544. doi: 10.3390/mi13091544.
Inorganic n-type Bi2Te3 flexible thin film, as a promising near-room temperature thermoelectric material, has attracted extensive research interest and application potentials. In this work, to further improve the thermoelectric performance of flexible Bi2Te3 thin films, a post-electric current treatment is employed. It is found that increasing the electric current leads to increased carrier concentration and electric conductivity from 1874 S cm−1 to 2240 S cm−1. Consequently, a high power factor of ~10.70 μW cm−1 K−2 at room temperature can be achieved in the Bi2Te3 flexible thin films treated by the electric current of 0.5 A, which is competitive among flexible n-type Bi2Te3 thin films. Besides, the small change of relative resistance <10% before and after bending test demonstrates excellent bending resistance of as-prepared flexible Bi2Te3 films. A flexible device composed of 4 n-type legs generates an open circuit voltage of ~7.96 mV and an output power of 24.78 nW at a temperature difference of ~35 K. Our study indicates that post-electric current treatment is an effective method in boosting the electrical performance of flexible Bi2Te3 thin films.
无机n型Bi2Te3柔性薄膜作为一种很有前景的近室温热电材料，已引起广泛的研究兴趣和应用潜力。在这项工作中，为了进一步提高柔性Bi2Te3薄膜的热电性能，采用了电流后处理。研究发现，增加电流会导致载流子浓度增加，电导率从1874 S cm−1提高到2240 S cm−1。因此，在0.5 A电流处理的Bi2Te3柔性薄膜中，室温下可实现约10.70 μW cm−1 K−2的高功率因数，这在柔性n型Bi2Te3薄膜中具有竞争力。此外，弯曲测试前后相对电阻的小变化<10%，表明所制备的柔性Bi2Te3薄膜具有优异的抗弯曲性。由4个n型支腿组成的柔性器件在约35 K的温差下产生约7.96 mV的开路电压和24.78 nW的输出功率。我们的研究表明，电流后处理是提高柔性Bi2Te3薄膜电学性能的有效方法。
