Facile Fabrication of -Type Flexible CoSbTe Skutterudite/PEDOT:PSS Hybrid Thermoelectric Films

Alongiside the growing demand for wearable and implantable electronics, the development of flexible thermoelectric (FTE) materials holds great promise and has recently become a highly necessitated and efficient method for converting heat to electricity. Conductive polymers were widely used in previous research; however, -type polymers suffer from instability compared to the -type polymers, which results in a deficiency in the -type TE leg for FTE devices. The development of the -type FTE is still at a relatively early stage with limited applicable materials, insufficient conversion efficiency, and issues such as an undesirably high cost or toxic element consumption. In this work, as a prototype, a flexible -type rare-earth free skutterudite (CoSb)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) binary thermoelectric film was fabricated based on ball-milled skutterudite via a facile top-down method, which is promising to be widely applicable to the hybridization of conventional bulk TE materials. The polymers bridge the separated thermoelectric particles and provide a conducting pathway for carriers, leading to an enhancement in electrical conductivity and a competitive Seebeck coefficient. The current work proposes a rational design towards FTE devices and provides a perspective for the exploration of conventional thermoelectric materials for wearable electronics.