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Professor Liu Kai’s team at Qingdao University of Science and Technology has developed the first N-type thermoelectric elastomer, known as “thermoelectric rubber,” providing a new solution for energy harvesting technologies in flexible electronics and wearable devices. The related research results were recently published online in “Nature.”
With the rapid development of wearable electronic devices and soft bioelectronics, providing efficient and flexible energy solutions has become an urgent issue. Thermoelectric generation technology, which can convert temperature differences into electrical energy, has shown broad application prospects. Traditionally, thermoelectric devices have relied on inorganic thermoelectric materials, focusing on applications under rigid structures, lacking elasticity and shape adaptability, which limits their use in flexible and wearable devices.
To address this issue, researchers, relying on the research achievements of Professor Lei Ting’s team at Peking University and Professor Hua Jing’s team at Qingdao University of Science and Technology, developed the N-type thermoelectric elastomer. This innovative material combines elasticity, stretchability, and thermoelectric conversion capabilities, opening new directions for energy harvesting technologies in wearable devices.
The research team synthesized the N-type thermoelectric elastomer by combining three strategies: uniform nanoscale phase separation, thermally activated crosslinking, and directional doping. This material exhibits excellent stretchability and resilience, with a tensile strain of up to 850%, comparable to traditional rubber. Additionally, its thermoelectric figure of merit can reach 0.49 at 300 Kelvin, approaching or even surpassing the performance of existing flexible or plastic inorganic thermoelectric materials. By precisely selecting combinations of elastomers and dopants, researchers can not only improve the material’s stretchability but also promote the formation of uniformly distributed semiconductor polymer nanofibers, thereby enhancing the material’s electrical conductivity and reducing thermal conductivity, breaking the shackles of thermoelectric materials that cannot simultaneously achieve high efficiency and adjustable elasticity.
Based on this, the research team manufactured the first elastic thermoelectric generator, demonstrating its application in harvesting human body heat and showcasing its potential to drive wearable electronic devices and biosensors. Unlike inorganic thermoelectric devices, the elastic thermoelectric generator does not require complex interconnection structures and can directly adapt to the skin’s surface while maintaining a high fill factor and low thermal resistance, making the device both efficient in thermoelectric conversion and excellent in comfort and shape adaptability.
Related paper information:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09387-z
Content source:
“China Science Daily” (2025-08-19, Page 1, News)
