Selective Laser Sintering of Blade-Coated Thermoelectric Materials with Tunable Thickness

Thermoelectric generators have attracted extensive attention as energy harvesters. However, their traditional cost inefficient fabrication methods and usual form factor (limited to rigid small areas) hinder their usability. In this paper, the additive manufacturing of inorganic thermoelectric materials by combining blade coating and selective laser sintering (SLS) is proposed. This process enables single layer films with tunable thickness, from 50 to 500 micrometers, by adjusting the blade height and powder load of thermoelectric slurries. The use of SLS not only induces promising micro/nanostructures for enhanced thermoelectric performance, but it will also enable large area and low cost patterning of different geometries.