Sticky thermoelectric materials collaborate with ultra-thin high performance foam for hierarchically designed flexible peltier sheets

To improve the energy efficiency in temperature conditioning of human bodies and to also prepare for extreme heat intensified by climate change, Peltier human coolers have been released based on the commercial Peltier devices. Still, the current Peltier devices are heavy, solid, and limited area size. To slim the thickness and weight and to finally mass-produce thinner Peltier sheets, we have developed sticky thermoelectric materials based on a hierarchical multi-component strategy for complex requirements. To expand the strategy to the middle layer, we replaced the original polymer sheets with ultra-thin high performance foam sheets due to their low thermal conductivity and shock absorption feature. Consequently, the low thermal conductivity enhanced the Peltier temperature difference, and the shock absorption feature suppressed the bottom electrode sheets from delaminating after the bending. This paper suggests promising improvements of the performances and bending durability in the hierarchically designed Peltier sheets using the foam sheets.