N-Type Thermoelectric Elastomers

Intrinsically elastic thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are desirable for developing self-powered wearable electronics, soft bioelectronics, and personal temperature regulators. To date, all reported high-performance thermoelectric materials only realized flexibility, rather than elasticity, like skins. Here, we report the first n-type thermoelectric elastomer (TEE) by combining uniform bulk nanophase separation, thermally activated crosslinking, and targeted doping into one material. The TEEs exhibit high figure-of-merit (ZT) values approaching or comparable to flexible inorganic materials while possessing unique strain-enhanced thermoelectric performance under mechanical deformations up to 150% strain. We demonstrate that carefully selected insulating elastomers can promote the formation of uniformly distributed elastomer-wrapped semiconducting polymer nanofibril, leading to improved electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient and decreased thermal conductivity. These TEEs show great potential for integration with wearable electronics and bioelectronics.