Wearable thermoelectric generator for human clothing applications

In this study, a wearable thermoelectric generator (TEG) in the flexible fabric is proposed for converting human body heat energy to electrical energy. The wearable TEG is composed of a flexible fabric material, thermoelectric columns (Bi₂Te₃) and electrical connection based on conductive fabric component. The proposed TEG showed the flexibility and the wearability suitable to be applied to the human body. The TEG was fabricated dispenser printing, and the fabricated device converted applied contact heat into electrical energy (0.98 μV/K). When the TEG applied to the human body, the measured output power was 178 nW in ambient temperature of 5 °C.