Partially Filled TEM Loan Scheme: Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)
Despite the continuous development and marketing of various portable electronic devices such as: B. Smart Bands, the progress of these devices has been hampered by a major limitation, as they need to be charged regularly. However, a new technology developed by a South Korean research team has become a hot topic as it has significant potential for overcoming this limitation for portable electronic devices.
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), or KIST, announced that a research team led by Director Jin-Sang Kim of the Jeonbuk Institute of Advanced Composite Materials has developed a highly efficient flexible thermoelectric device that is capable of some of these to autonomously generate the electricity required for its operation from body heat. The device developed by the team has enhanced thermal insulation capabilities made possible by making the flexible silicone compound (PDMS) into a sponge-like configuration, which was then used as a framework for innovatively improving the device’s performance.
Thermoelectric devices can generate electricity by taking advantage of the temperature difference between the two ends of the device and have been used to generate environmentally friendly electricity from sources such as vehicle engine heat or waste heat from power plants. Conversely, by applying electricity to the thermoelectric device, one end of the device can be cooled while the other generates heat, making it useful in temperature control systems for small refrigerators, automotive heat sinks, and semiconductor devices.
A photographic image of the flexible TEM based on a porous PDMS filler. Photo credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)
Normal thermoelectric components usually have a rigid ceramic substrate that carries the thermoelectric semiconductor, which makes it difficult to use them on curved surfaces, whereas with flexible thermoelectric components a polymer material encapsulates the thermoelectric semiconductor in contrast to a ceramic substrate, whereby the component can be bent easily. When such a device is worn on the body, electricity can be generated autonomously and possibly also used as a portable air conditioner. As a result, flexible thermoelectric devices have attracted much attention in the field of portable electronic devices. However, the polymer materials used to make the flexible substrate have high thermal conductivity and therefore cannot block heat at both ends of the device. As a result, the flexible devices that have hitherto been made have suffered the fatal disadvantage of not being able to operate at a level comparable to commercially available thermoelectric devices with a rigid substrate.
To find a solution to this problem, the KIST research team created a polymeric material with a sponge configuration by first pouring a silicone compound solution onto a sugar cube and allowing the solution to solidify, and then dissolving the sugar cube in water. Consequently, when the sugar cube dissolved, the space that the cube had occupied was transformed into a structure made up of micro-air bubbles. The thermal insulation capacity of this structure was 50% higher than that of conventional materials, which made it possible to effectively block heat transfer. The team at KIST used this substrate as a support frame to develop a flexible thermoelectric device that has no loss of performance. The team’s device demonstrated performance that was more than 20% superior to existing flexible thermoelectric devices and comparable to existing commercial devices. The research team (including the first co-authors: Dr. Sung-Jin Jung, Dr. Joonchul Shin) was able to successfully switch on an LED light with body heat with its flexible device.
Jin-Sang Kim, director of KIST’s Jeonbuk office, said, “The efficiency of our flexible thermoelectric device has been increased to a level through a simple, inexpensive process of pouring a solution onto sugar and allowing the solution to similar to that of commercial thermoelectric devices. “He also commented,” If we use a sufficient number of thermoelectric devices, it should certainly be possible to make smart ribbons that only work with body heat. ”
Flexible thermoelectric devices enable energy to be extracted from the human skin
More information:
Sung-Jin Jung et al., Porous Organic Filler for the High Efficiency of a Flexible Thermoelectric Generator, Nano Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1016 / j.nanoen.2020.105604
Provided by the National Research Council for Science and Technology
Quote: Development of source technology for using wearable devices without charging (2021, April 5), accessed on April 6, 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2021-04-source-technology-wearable-devices-recharging. html
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