Liu Kai, Wang Jingyi, Pan Xiran, Tian Shuang-Yan, Liu Yudong, Zhang Zhi, Di Yuqiu, Chen Jupeng, Wu Chengwen, Deng Xin-Yu, Wang Dongyang, Li Peiyun, Pan Chen-Kai, Qi Fenglian, Liu Jinhui, Hua Jing, Pei Jian, Di Chong-An, Guo Yunlong, Liu Yunqi, Lei Ting
National Key Laboratory of Advanced Micro and Nano Manufacture Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Key Laboratory of Rubber-Plastics, Ministry of Education/Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Rubber-plastics, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China.
Nature. 2025 Aug 13. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09387-z.
Intrinsically elastic thermoelectric generators with superior conformal coverage and shape adaptability are highly desirable for developing self-powered wearable electronics, soft bioelectronics and personal temperature regulators. Until now, all reported high-performance thermoelectric materials have realized only flexibility, rather than elasticity. Here we present one of the first n-type thermoelectric elastomers by integrating uniform bulk nanophase separation, thermally activated crosslinking and targeted doping into a single material. The thermoelectric elastomers could exhibit exceptional rubber-like recovery of up to 150% strains and high figure of merit values rivalling flexible inorganic materials even under mechanical deformations. Conventional wisdom suggests that incorporating insulating polymers should dilute the active component in organic thermoelectrics, resulting in lower performance. However, we demonstrate that carefully selected elastomers and dopants can promote the formation of uniformly distributed, elastomer-wrapped and heavily n-doped semiconducting polymer nanofibrils, leading to improved electrical conductivity and decreased thermal conductivity. These thermoelectric elastomers have the potential to make elastic thermoelectric generators in wearable applications much more conformable and efficient.
具有卓越贴合覆盖性和形状适应性的本征弹性热电发电机对于开发自供电可穿戴电子产品、柔性生物电子器件和个人温度调节器而言是非常理想的。到目前为止，所有报道的高性能热电材料仅实现了柔韧性，而非弹性。在此，我们通过将均匀的本体纳米相分离、热活化交联和靶向掺杂整合到单一材料中，首次展示了一种n型热电弹性体。这种热电弹性体即使在机械变形下也能表现出高达150%应变的出色橡胶状恢复能力以及与柔性无机材料相媲美的高优值。传统观点认为，加入绝缘聚合物会稀释有机热电材料中的活性成分，从而导致性能降低。然而，我们证明，精心选择的弹性体和掺杂剂能够促进形成均匀分布、被弹性体包裹且高度n掺杂的半导体聚合物纳米纤维，进而提高电导率并降低热导率。这些热电弹性体有潜力使可穿戴应用中的弹性热电发电机更加贴合且高效。
