TY - JOUR
T1 - Printing and Folding
T2 - A Solution for High-Throughput Processing of Organic Thin-Film Thermoelectric Devices
AU - Mortazavinatanzi, Seyedmohammad
AU - Rezaniakolaei, Alireza
AU - Rosendahl, Lasse Aistrup
PY - 2018/3/27
Y1 - 2018/3/27
N2 - Wearable electronics are rapidly expanding, especially in applications like health monitoring through medical sensors and body area networks (BANs). Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have been the main candidate among the different types of energy harvesting methods for body-mounted or even implantable sensors. Introducing new semiconductor materials like organic thermoelectric materials and advancing manufacturing techniques are paving the way to overcome the barriers associated with the bulky and inflexible nature of the common TEGs and are making it possible to fabricate flexible and biocompatible modules. Yet, the lower efficiency of these materials in comparison with bulk-inorganic counterparts as well as applying them mostly in the form of thin layers on flexible substrates limits their applications. This research aims to improve the functionality of thin and flexible organic thermoelectric generators (OTEs) by utilizing a novel design concept inspired by origami. The effects of critical geometric parameters are investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics to further prove the concept of printing and folding as an approach for the system level optimization of printed thin film TEGs.
AB - Wearable electronics are rapidly expanding, especially in applications like health monitoring through medical sensors and body area networks (BANs). Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have been the main candidate among the different types of energy harvesting methods for body-mounted or even implantable sensors. Introducing new semiconductor materials like organic thermoelectric materials and advancing manufacturing techniques are paving the way to overcome the barriers associated with the bulky and inflexible nature of the common TEGs and are making it possible to fabricate flexible and biocompatible modules. Yet, the lower efficiency of these materials in comparison with bulk-inorganic counterparts as well as applying them mostly in the form of thin layers on flexible substrates limits their applications. This research aims to improve the functionality of thin and flexible organic thermoelectric generators (OTEs) by utilizing a novel design concept inspired by origami. The effects of critical geometric parameters are investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics to further prove the concept of printing and folding as an approach for the system level optimization of printed thin film TEGs.
KW - Flexible thermoelectric generator
KW - Body sensor
KW - Organic thermoelectric (OTE)
KW - Multiphysics simulation
KW - Wearable electronics
KW - Printed electronics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044791860&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/s18040989
DO - 10.3390/s18040989
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1424-8220
VL - 18
JO - Sensors
JF - Sensors
IS - 4
M1 - 989
ER -