Research explores thermoelectric screen printing read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/930-research-explores-thermoelectric-screen-printing

 A Study explores thermoelectric screen printing. What if you could easily print a thin layer of material – for use anywhere – that would allow you to create flexible energy harvesters or coolers? That may soon be a reality.

Yanliang Zhang, professor at Boise State University, did a research on thermoelectric screen printing. High-performance and low-cost flexible thermoelectric films and devices were fabricated by an innovative screen-printing process that allows for direct conversion of nanocrystals into flexible thermoelectric devices.

Thermoelectric conversion is a solid-state and environmentally friendly energy conversion technology with broad applications that include solid-state cooling, energy harvesting and waste heat recovery.

Flexible thermoelectric devices are especially attractive for waste heat recovery along contoured surfaces and for energy harvesting applications to power sensors, biomedical devices and wearable electronics

This new printing method not only will benefit thermoelectrics, but also result in a disruptive manufacturing approach for other electronic devices and energy conversion or storage technologies of ultralow cost and flexibility.

Based on initial cost analysis, the screen-printed films can realize thermoelectric devices at 2-3 cents per watt. Flexible thermoelectric films were screen printed at ambient conditions using nanocrystals synthesized by a highly scalable microwave assisted wet chemical method.

The performance of the printed thermoelectric films and devices can be further improved by increasing the electrical conductivity through optimization of the ink formulation and refinement of the sintering process.

The paper on this work, “High-performance and flexible thermoelectric films by screen printing solution-processed nanoplate crystalsis,” is published on the Scientific Reports website.