Energy filtering effect of flexible organic/inorganic nanocomposite thermoelectric fabrics to harvest human heat and solar energy

PEDOT has caught much attention because of its intrinsic electrical conductivity and flexibility. However, PEDOT has a low Seebeck coefficient that prevents its practical applications in the smart wearable field and this problem is one challenge faced by scientists today. Hence, in this study, polypropylene nonwovens (PP) that received hydrophilic treatment in advance were used as matrices (PP-PDA). The matrices underwent the low temperature interfacial polymerization technology and coating treating, and were 4 thus deposited with PEDOT and high thermoelectric performance inorganic nanoparticles (CuI), thereby forming high performance thermoelectric fabric (PP-PDA-PEDOT/CuI) having a core-shell structure. PEDOT and nanoparticles (CuI) have energy filtering effect that improves the Seebeck coefficient thermoelectric fabrics, Seebeck coefficient from 13.53 μV/K elevated to 83.02 μV/K. Next, thermoelectric fabrics were assembled into thermoelectric devices with five pairs that can collect both the body heat and the solar energy. When users put on the thermoelectric devices, a temperature difference of 10 °C generates voltage of 2.264 mV. Specifically, with a temperature difference being 30 °C, thermoelectric devices were able to generate output voltage of 5.5 mV. which proves that the wearable thermoelectric devices become an effective strategy for the applications of the smart textiles field.