Enhanced thermoelectric performance of graphene based nanocomposite coated self-powered wearable e-textiles for energy harvesting from human body heat
Nazakat Ali Khoso, Xie Jiao, Xu GuangYu, Tian Sun, Jiajun Wang
Abstract
). The developed TE device showed a higher potential to convert the low-grade body heat into electrical energy, between the human body temperature of (36.5 °C) and an external environment of (20.0 ± 5 °C) with a temperature difference of (2.5-16.5 °C). The wearable textile-based TEG is capable of producing an open circuit output voltage of 12.5-119.5 mV at an ambient fixed temperature of (20 °C). The rGO coated textile fabric also showed reduced electrical sheet resistance by increasing the number of dyeing cycles (10) and increased with the number of (20) washing cycles. The developed reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coated electrodes showed a sheet resistance of 185-45 kΩ and (15 kΩ) for PEDOT:PSS-rGO nanocomposites respectively. Furthermore, the mechanical performance of the as coated textile fabric was enhanced from (20-80 mPa) with increasing number of padding cycles. The thermoelectric performance was significantly improved, without influencing the breath-ability and comfort properties of the resultant fabric. This study presents a promising approach for the fabrication of PEDOT:PSS/rGO nano-hybrids for textile-based wearable thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for energy harvesting from low-grade body heat.