Macro-scale patterning for hierarchically designed thinner Peltier sheets

Global warming has made the world realize the importance of cooling technologies. Peltier devices potentially save ten times the energy consumption compared with air conditioners currently being used, owing to their capability of directly cooling down the human body. Yet commercial Peltier devices are still heavy, solid, and small. To mass produce lighter-weight larger-area thinner Peltier sheets via a roll-to-roll process, we have developed sticky thermoelectric materials, hierarchically designed at atomic, nano, and micro scales. However, though thinner Peltier sheets enable physically enhancing the cooling heat flux capability further, they require higher current at the maximum operating point, which ruin their cooling performance due to Joule heating on electrodes. In this study, we researched the macro-scale patterning of sticky thermoelectric (TE) materials and electrodes, and discovered a stripe pattern was 14–23% better than the traditional check pattern. This simpler pattern could benefit mass production. Graphical abstract