Morphology-engineered nanostructured silver- and antimony-telluride films for flexible thermoelectric generators

Ankit Kashyap; Conner Wallace; Geetu Sharma; Collin Rowe; Mahima Sasikumar; Niraj Kumar Singh; Per Eklund; Theodorian Borca-Tasciucc; Ganpati Ramanath; Ajay Soni

arXiv · 2512.06824

Morphology-engineered nanostructured silver- and antimony-telluride films for flexible thermoelectric generators

Ankit Kashyap·Conner Wallace·Geetu Sharma·Collin Rowe·Mahima Sasikumar·Niraj Kumar Singh·Per Eklund·Theodorian Borca-Tasciucc·Ganpati Ramanath·Ajay Soni

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Abstract

Harvesting low-grade heat to electricity is attractive for powering wearable electronic devices. Here, we demonstrate nW-scale thermoelectric power generation in devices from thin film assemblies of microwave-synthesized p-Sb2Te3 nanoplates and n-Ag2Te nanowires on polyvinylidene fluoride membranes. While microwave cycling is crucial for Ag2Te nanocrystal shaping, Sb2Te3 formation is sensitive to precursors and surfactant concentrations. Introducing S doping in Sb2Te3 in the 1 - 1.5 atomic percent range via thioglycolic acid during synthesis yields an up to eightfold higher power-factor, due to a fivefold increase in electrical conductivity and 25% increase in Seebeck coefficient. Our microfilm devices generate up to 33.6 mV from 5 deg C to 50 deg C thermal gradients, with 120 nW maximum power output at Delta T 30 deg C, which is sixtyfold higher than Sb2Te3 paper devices. Mechanical bending can increase device resistance by up to 125% due to diminished inter-nanostructure electronic transport. These findings provide insights for integrating synthesis, morphology engineering and device design for next-generation wearable thermoelectric systems.

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Ankit Kashyap, Conner Wallace, Geetu Sharma, Collin Rowe, Mahima Sasikumar, Niraj Kumar Singh, Per Eklund, Theodorian Borca-Tasciucc, Ganpati Ramanath, Ajay Soni. 2025-12-07. Morphology-engineered nanostructured silver- and antimony-telluride films for flexible thermoelectric generators. https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.06824

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