New publication on Ultra-flexible low-crystallinity Ag2(Te, S) film on nylon by a wet chemical method for thermoelectric converters

Ag2(Te, S) material system has recently attracted increasing interest due to its outstanding deformability. Here, we report a novel method to prepare flexible Ag2(Te, S) films on nylon membrane: first, a series of Ag2Te1-xSx (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) powders are synthesized by a wet chemical method, then the powders are subsequently deposited onto nylon membranes via vacuum-assisted filtration and followed by low-temperature hot pressing. The Ag2Te1-xSx films exhibit enhanced electrical conductivity as x increases from 0.1 to 0.5, while the Seebeck coefficient decreases. Additionally, the crystallinity of the films decreases with increasing S content. The Ag2Te0.5S0.5 film exhibits a coexistence of amorphous and crystalline phases, with many nanograins randomly distributed in the amorphous matrix, and demonstrates a power factor (PF) of ~502.5 μW m−1 K−2 at room temperature. Importantly, compared with the Ag2Te/nylon film, the flexibility, and deformability of the Ag2Te0.5S0.5/nylon film are significantly improved without sacrificing the PF. Finally, a five-leg flexible TE device was assembled, generating a voltage of 15.8 mV and a maximum power of 3.17 μW under a 29.0 K temperature gradient (ΔT). Moreover, the device demonstrated a rapid and stable response to ΔT

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