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The ability of thermoelectric (TE) materials to convert thermal energy to electricity and vice versa highlights them as a promising candidate for sustainable energy applications. Despite considerable increases in the figure of merit zT of thermoelectric materials in the past two decades, there is still a prominent need to develop scalable synthesis and flexible manufacturing processes to convert high-efficiency materials into high-performance devices. Scalable printing techniques provide a versatile solution to not only fabricate both inorganic and organic TE materials with fine control over the compositions and microstructures, but also manufacture thermoelectric devices with optimized geometric and structural designs that lead to improved efficiency and system-level performances. In this review, we aim to provide a comprehensive framework of printing thermoelectric materials and devices by including recent breakthroughs and relevant discussions on TE materials chemistry, ink formulation, flexible or conformable device design, and processing strategies, with an emphasis on additive manufacturing techniques. In addition, we review recent innovations in the flexible, conformal, and stretchable device architectures and highlight state-of-the-art applications of these TE devices in energy harvesting and thermal management. Perspectives of emerging research opportunities and future directions are also discussed. While this review centers on thermoelectrics, the fundamental ink chemistry and printing processes possess the potential for applications to a broad range of energy, thermal and electronic devices.
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Emerging interface materials for electronics thermal management: experiments, modeling, and new opportunities
Thermal management is becoming a critical technology challenge for modern electronics with decreasing device size and increasing power density. One key materials innovation is the development of advanced thermal interfaces in electronic packaging to enable efficient heat dissipation and improve device performance, which has attracted intensive research efforts from both academia and industry over the past several decades. Here we review the recent progress in both theory and experiment for developing high-performance thermal interface materials. First, the basic theories and computational frameworks for interface energy transport are discussed, ranging from atomistic interface scattering to multiscale disorders that contributed to thermal boundary resistance. Second, state-of-the-art experimental techniques including steady-state and transient thermal measurements are discussed and compared. Moreover, the important structure design, requirements, and property factors for thermal interface materials depending on different applications are summarized and exemplified with the recent literature. Finally, emerging new semiconductors and polymers with high thermal conductivity are briefly reviewed and opportunities for future research are discussed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1753393
- PAR ID:
- 10155264
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Materials Chemistry C
- ISSN:
- 2050-7526
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TC05415D
