Paper-based substrates have been increasingly attractive in flexible electronics technology as flexible support substrates due to their advantages of availability, environmental friendliness (as disposable, degradable, and renewable materials), and foldability. Hereby, a facile method for installation of p-type and n-type semiconductor legs in the thickness direction of a paper substrate was established. A transparent paper-based thermoelectric generator prototype by impregnating the paper with resin was then fabricated. The resulting transparent paper-based thermoelectric generator with 10 thermocouples showed excellent mechanical flexibility. The generator maintained a maximum voltage and an output power of ∼8.3 mV and ∼10 nW, respectively, at a temperature difference of 35 K after 1000 bending cycles. This work offers a promising strategy for the development of paper-based thermoelectric generators that are adaptable to a wide variety of complex curved surface heat source. Therefore, the heat recovery efficiency in both human and natural environments can be greatly improved.
Keywords: energy harvesting; flexible electronics; thermoelectric; transparent paper; wearable.