LaPSusTec: Laser-printed flexible sustainable thermoelectrics

Thermoelectric (TE) materials can produce electricity from waste heat. However, their widespread is limited by their costly fabrication and limited form factor (small, rigid, and flat devices). Our group has developed a facile and cost-efficient route for additive manufacturing (via laser printing) large-area and mechanically flexible TEs. We demonstrated this new route for the benchmark material bismuth antimony telluride (BST). Unfortunately, BST is based on scarce and critical raw elements. This project proposes the laser printing of metal (Sn/Ag/Cu) chalcogenides (S/Se). These emerging materials are more abundant and less critical than the traditional BST, show good TE performance over a wide range of temperatures, and can be engineered to be flexible. The particularities of laser printing, namely ultra-fast heating and cooling, and accurate energy dosage, permit accessing novel material microstructure in a very controllable way, some of which are expected to lead to improved TE and mechanical performance. However, the science behind the process-structure-properties relation in laser-sintered metal chalcogenides must be further understood to optimize their performance.

Keywords:Microstructuring, Thermoelectrics, Transport properties, Laser bed powder fusion, Sustainability

Disciplines:Materials processing, Microfabrication and manufacturing, Energy conversion, Electronic (transport) properties