Design and 3D Printing of Heat-Dissipating Thermoelectric Architecture Utilizing Ternary Silver Chalcogenides

Thermoelectric devices have garnered substantial attention due to their potential for sustainable energy recovery. Optimizing heat transfer and dissipation is essential for maximizing power output in these devices. Conventional approaches to heat dissipation often rely on external active or passive cooling systems, which suffer from heat loss and increased system weight. This research introduces a design of heat-sink integrated thermoelectric legs to improve heat dissipation without external cooling devices. This design is realized through finite element model simulations and 3D printing process of ternary silver chalcogenide-based thermoelectric materials. The synthesized AgBiSe₂ (n-type) and AgSbTe₂ (p-type) particles exhibit self-induced surface charges, resulting in high viscoelasticity in the particle-based colloidal inks. This property enables the fabrication of complex heat-dissipation architectures through 3D printing. Thermoelectric generators constructed from these 3D-printed heat-dissipating legs achieve higher temperature differences and increased output power compared to traditional cuboidal thermoelectric generators. This strategy introduces a new way to enhance thermoelectric power generation