Su Junhui, Chen Ning, Xu Zhuoming, Zhang Junze, Siddique Suniya, Chen Shuo, Li Fu, Liang Guangxing, Luo Jingting, Zheng Zhuanghao, Chen Yue-Xing
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Advanced Thin Films and Applications, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, State Key Laboratory of Radio Frequency Heterogeneous Integration, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518060, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2025 Aug 6;17(31):44738-44747. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5c10931. Epub 2025 Jul 22.
SbTe is a widely studied p-type thermoelectric material with great potential for flexible energy harvesting applications. To enable stable power supply for wearable electronics, enhancing the output power of thermoelectric thin-film devices is imperative, where high-performance thick films are advantageous for boosting power generation efficiency. In this work, we successfully fabricated 10 μm SbTe thick films with high performance by combining thermal evaporation and a thermal diffusion process. Initially, we explored the thermoelectric properties of SbTe films with varying thicknesses and found that as the thickness increased, the electrical conductivity decreased significantly, leading to a decline in the power factor. To address this, we optimized the thermal diffusion temperature for 10 μm-thick SbTe films. This optimization substantially enhanced both electrical conductivity and power factor, achieving a remarkable room-temperature power factor of 25.0 μW cm K. Building on this high-performance thick film, we developed a flexible planar thermoelectric device, which demonstrated an output voltage of 57 mV and a peak output power of 8.85 μW under a 60 °C temperature gradient. The output power density reached as high as 4.42 mW cm. The device with only a 16.7% change in resistance after 800 bending cycles at a bending strain of 60%. This work presents a scalable and effective strategy to enhance the thermoelectric performance of thick SbTe films, accelerating their practical deployment in wearable energy harvesting systems.
锑碲（SbTe）是一种被广泛研究的p型热电材料，在柔性能量收集应用方面具有巨大潜力。为了实现可穿戴电子产品的稳定供电，提高热电薄膜器件的输出功率势在必行，其中高性能厚膜有利于提高发电效率。在这项工作中，我们通过结合热蒸发和热扩散工艺成功制备了具有高性能的10μm锑碲厚膜。最初，我们研究了不同厚度的锑碲薄膜的热电性能，发现随着厚度增加，电导率显著下降，导致功率因数降低。为了解决这个问题，我们优化了10μm厚锑碲薄膜的热扩散温度。这种优化显著提高了电导率和功率因数，在室温下实现了高达25.0μW cm K的功率因数。基于这种高性能厚膜，我们开发了一种柔性平面热电装置，在60°C的温度梯度下，该装置的输出电压为57 mV，峰值输出功率为8.85μW。输出功率密度高达4.42 mW cm。该器件在60%的弯曲应变下经过800次弯曲循环后，电阻仅变化16.7%。这项工作提出了一种可扩展且有效的策略来提高厚锑碲薄膜的热电性能，加速其在可穿戴能量收集系统中的实际应用。
