Novel Wearable Pyrothermoelectric Hybrid Generator for Solar Energy Harvesting

Recently, wearable energy harvesting systems have been attracting great attention. As thermal energy is abundant in nature, developing wearable energy harvesters based on thermal energy conversion processes has been of particular interest. By integration of a high-efficient solar absorber, a pyroelectric film, and thermoelectric yarns, herein, we design a novel wearable solar-energy-driven pyrothermoelectric hybrid generator (PTEG). In contrast to those wearable pyroelectric generators and thermoelectric generators reported in previous works, our PTEG can enable effective energy harvesting from both dynamic temperature fluctuations and static temperature gradients. Under an illumination intensity of 1500 W/m2 (1.5 sun), the PTEG successfully charges two commercial capacitors to a sum voltage of 3.7 V in only 800 s, and the total energy is able to light up 73 LED light bulbs. The volumetric energy density over the two capacitors is calculated to be 67.8 μJ/cm3. The practical energy harvesting performance of the PTEG is further evaluated in the outdoor environment. The PTEG reported in this work not only demonstrates a rational structural design of high-efficient wearable energy harvesters but also paves a new pathway to integrate multiple energy conversion technologies for solar energy collection.