熱電エラストマーがウェアラブル向け新エネルギーソリューションに(Thermoelectric Elastomer Offers New Energy Solution for Wearables)

2025-09-09 北京大学(PKU)

Web要約 の発言:
北京大学材料科学与工程学院の雷霆教授率いる研究チームは、世界初の「熱電ゴム(thermoelectric elastomer)」を開発しました。従来の無機熱電材料は高効率だが硬く脆く、有機系は柔軟だが性能低下が課題でした。本研究では、①ナノスケール相分離による導電性ナノファイバーネットワーク形成、②熱活性化架橋による850%以上の伸縮性と高い弾性回復、③方向性ドーピングによる電気伝導度とゼーベック係数の同時向上を実現。これにより室温でZT値0.49を達成し、柔軟な無機材料を超える性能を示しました。肌に密着しながら体温を電力へ変換できるため、自立駆動型ウェアラブル機器や固体冷却技術への応用が期待されます。本成果はNature誌に掲載されました。

熱電エラストマーがウェアラブル向け新エネルギーソリューションに(Thermoelectric Elastomer Offers New Energy Solution for Wearables)
Fig. 1 Design strategy of N-type thermoelectric elastomers.

<関連情報>

n型熱電エラストマー n-Type thermoelectric elastomers

Kai Liu,Jingyi Wang,Xiran Pan,Shuang-Yan Tian,Yudong Liu,Zhi Zhang,Yuqiu Di,Jupeng Chen,Chengwen Wu,Xin-Yu Deng,Dongyang Wang,Peiyun Li,Chen-Kai Pan,Fenglian Qi,Jinhui Liu,Jing Hua,Jian Pei,Chong-an Di,Yunlong Guo,Yunqi Liu & Ting Lei
Nature  Published:13 August 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09387-z

Abstract

Intrinsically elastic thermoelectric generators with superior conformal coverage and shape adaptability are highly desirable for developing self-powered wearable electronics, soft bioelectronics and personal temperature regulators1,2. Until now, all reported high-performance thermoelectric materials have realized only flexibility, rather than elasticity3,4. Here we present one of the first n-type thermoelectric elastomers by integrating uniform bulk nanophase separation, thermally activated crosslinking and targeted doping into a single material. The thermoelectric elastomers could exhibit exceptional rubber-like recovery of up to 150% strains and high figure of merit values rivalling flexible inorganic materials even under mechanical deformations. Conventional wisdom suggests that incorporating insulating polymers should dilute the active component in organic thermoelectrics, resulting in lower performance. However, we demonstrate that carefully selected elastomers and dopants can promote the formation of uniformly distributed, elastomer-wrapped and heavily n-doped semiconducting polymer nanofibrils, leading to improved electrical conductivity and decreased thermal conductivity. These thermoelectric elastomers have the potential to make elastic thermoelectric generators in wearable applications much more conformable and efficient.

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