Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore, 138634, Singapore.
Department of Chemistry, University College London, London, WC1H 0AJ, UK.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022 Dec;9(36):e2204624. doi: 10.1002/advs.202204624. Epub 2022 Oct 26.
Heat is abundantly available from various sources including solar irradiation, geothermal energy, industrial processes, automobile exhausts, and from the human body and other living beings. However, these heat sources are often overlooked despite their abundance, and their potential applications remain underdeveloped. In recent years, important progress has been made in the development of high-performance thermoelectric materials, which have been extensively studied at medium and high temperatures, but less so at near room temperature. Silver-based chalcogenides have gained much attention as near room temperature thermoelectric materials, and they are anticipated to catalyze tremendous growth in energy harvesting for advancing internet of things appliances, self-powered wearable medical systems, and self-powered wearable intelligent devices. This review encompasses the recent advancements of thermoelectric silver-based chalcogenides including binary and multinary compounds, as well as their hybrids and composites. Emphasis is placed on strategic approaches which improve the value of the figure of merit for better thermoelectric performance at near room temperature via engineering material size, shape, composition, bandgap, etc. This review also describes the potential of thermoelectric materials for applications including self-powering wearable devices created by different approaches. Lastly, the underlying challenges and perspectives on the future development of thermoelectric materials are discussed.
热能广泛存在于各种来源中，包括太阳辐射、地热能、工业过程、汽车尾气以及人体和其他生物。然而，尽管这些热源非常丰富，但它们往往被忽视，其潜在应用也未得到充分开发。近年来，高性能热电材料的发展取得了重要进展，这些材料在中高温下得到了广泛研究，但在近室温下的研究较少。银基硫属化合物作为近室温热电材料引起了广泛关注，预计它们将促进物联网设备、自供电可穿戴医疗系统和自供电可穿戴智能设备的能量收集的巨大发展。本综述涵盖了热电银基硫属化合物的最新进展，包括二元和多元化合物，以及它们的混合物和复合材料。重点介绍了通过工程材料尺寸、形状、组成、能隙等方面的改进来提高品质因数价值以实现更好的近室温热电性能的战略方法。本文还描述了热电材料在不同应用中的潜力，包括通过不同方法实现的自供电可穿戴设备。最后，讨论了热电材料未来发展的潜在挑战和展望。
