Review
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Advanced Thermoelectric Materials for Flexible Cooling
Application
Jiamin Ding, Wenrui Zhao, Wenlong Jin, Chong-an Di,* and Daoben Zhu
Flexible cooling devices, which aim to fulfill the essential requirement of
complex working environments and enable local heat dissipation, have
become the cutting-edge area of refrigeration technology. Thermoelectric
(TE) material represents a promising candidate for various flexible cooling
applications, including wearable personal thermoregulation devices. With the
increasing interest in the Peltier effect of conductive polymers and inorganic
films on flexible substrates, flexible cooling devices have undergone rapid
development. Herein, the fundamental mechanisms, basic parameters, and
temperature measurement techniques for evaluating the cooling performance
are summarized. Moreover, recent progress on TE materials, such as flex-
ible inorganic and organic materials for Peltier cooling studies, is reviewed.
More importantly, insights are provided into the key strategies for high-
performance Peltier devices. The final part details the existing challenges and
perspectives on flexible TE cooling to inspire additional research interests
toward the advancement of refrigeration technology.
1. Introduction
Refrigeration refers to the cooling of an object in the definite
time and space for reducing its temperature below the ambient
temperature. In modern society, refrigeration devices account
for 25–30% of the global consumption of electricity.[1] These
devices have penetrated virtually all production technolo-
gies and scientific research fields. Further, they are integral to
improving the quality of human life, such as low-temperature
storage and cold-chain transportation, temperature control of
instruments, and indoor environment. The emergence and
assessment evaluation of mechanical refrigeration technology
enable large-scale commercial cooling applications, which have
a considerable impact on industry, lifestyle, and settlement
J. M. Ding, W. R. Zhao, W. L. Jin, Prof. C.-A. Di, Prof. D. B. Zhu
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences
CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids
Institute of Chemistry
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing 100190, China
E-mail: dicha@iccas.ac.cn
J. M. Ding, W. R. Zhao, W. L. Jin
School of Chemical Sciences
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing 100049, China
The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article
can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202010695.
DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202010695
Adv. Funct. Mater. 2021, 31, 2010695 2010695 (1 of 17)
patterns. In addition, novel solid-state
cooling systems such as thermoacoustic
refrigeration,[2] magnetic refrigeration,[3]
and electrocaloric refrigeration[4] exhibit
great potential for small-scale cooling.
In recent years, along with the booming
development of wearable electronics,
flexible cooling applications have garnered
significant attention in regard to refrig-
eration with arbitrary geometries such as
the human body, curved pipes, or other
nonplanar electronic devices. However,
until now, universal and efficient flexible
cooling technologies remain considerably
challenging.
Under these circumstances, thermoelec-
tric coolers (TECs) provide an alternative
option. The basic TEC is a solid-state active
heat pump based on the Peltier effect,
which was discovered in early 1834.[5]
During the Peltier cooling process, direct
current flows through the TEC circuit, creating hot and cold sides
by transferring heat from one side to another.[6] TECs with rela-
tively simple structures can easily realize miniaturized and light
refrigeration equipment due to their favorable properties such
as light weight, compact size, and no working fluid or mechan-
ical moving parts. In addition, the power of the Peltier devices
can be readily adjusted by modifying the current. Given these
advantages, Thermoelectric (TE) cooling has attracted signifi-
cant interest since the 1950s and the TE refrigeration effect was
first experimentally demonstrated in bulky Bi2Ti3 (Figure 1).[7]
In recent years, benefitting from the rapid development of con-
ductive polymers, flexible TECs based on organic TE (OTE)
materials come into focus. Meanwhile, reduction in the dimen-
sions of TE materials and the vigorously development of Peltier
devices based on soft substrates have facilitated the achieve-
ment of flexible cooling applications of intrinsically rigid inor-
ganic counterparts.
There have been many reviews dealing with Peltier cooling
or flexible TE power generation.[6,12] For example, Zhao et al.
overviewed modeling approaches and applications on TE
cooling,[6] Du et al. summarized different classes of flexible TE
materials and devices for power sources.[12b] Nonetheless, to the
best of our knowledge, there is no systematic review focusing
on flexible cooling application based on TE materials. Our aim
is to present a comprehensive insight into the fundamental
mechanisms, recent progress and key strategies of flexible
TECs. First, we introduce the operating mechanisms and basic
parameters involved in TECs. Second, we summarize several
common Peltier measurement techniques. Third, we discuss
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Figure 1. The development of TE material for Peltier cooling. Peltier refrigeration was first realized in inorganic TE materials and undergone a change
from bulk material to flexible film.[7,8] Images reproduced with permission from Ref. [8c,d]. Copyright 2014, Wiley-VCH.[8c] Copyright 2011, Nature Pub-
lishing Group.[8d] In terms of organics, Peltier devices based on PPy was developed in 2005 but it exhibited a weak and unstable cooling signal.
Reproduced with permission.[9] Copyright 2005, Elsevier. In 2012, Zhu et al. fabricated a thermoelectric module by combining n-type poly[Nax(Ni-ett)]
and p-type poly[Cux(Ni-ett)]. Reproduced with permission.[10] Copyright 2012, Wiley-VCH. Recently, advanced measurement techniques and device struc-
ture design realized the observation of single molecular Peltier effect in molecular-metal junction or the separation of Peltier cooling in poly(Ni-ett),
which deepen basic understanding of Peltier effect in organics and provide new possibilities for flexible refrigeration. Images reproduced with permis-
sion.[11] Copyright 2018, Nature Publishing Group.[11a] Copyright 2018, Nature Publishing Group.[11b]

the development of TE materials which have been applied in
flexible TECs, including organics and inorganics to offer a dis-
tinct map of the development status. Then, optimizing strate-
gies for state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials and Peltier
devices are presented. Last, we propose our perspectives to
stimulate more research interests in this emerging area.
2. Mechanism and Basic Parameters
2.1. Mechanism of the Peltier Effect
The Peltier effect was named after a French physicist, J.C.A.
Peltier, who observed heating or cooling at a junction of two
different conductors when the current was applied.[13] This
phenomenon comes from the variation in the average energy
of carriers between different materials. When transitioning
between materials, carriers compensate for the energy differ-
ence by exchanging heat energy with the surrounding lattice.
The amount of energy transported per unit carrier is reflected
by the Peltier coefficient.[14] For a semiconductor whose carriers
follow the Fermi–Dirac distribution function (feq), the Peltier
coefficient can be expressed by Equation (1).
 ∂f 
∫ σ (E )(E − E F ) − eq  dE
 ∂E 
Π=
 ∂f 
q ∫ σ (E ) − eq  dE
 ∂E 
where q is the unit charge, EF is the Fermi energy, and σ(E)
is the contribution of the conductivity of a carrier at energy E.
The Peltier coefficients of n-type material are negative, whereas
those of p-type materials are positive. Moreover, the magni-
tude of Π is extremely dependent on the doping level of the
materials. As the doping level increases, the Fermi level is
approaching closer to the valence/conduction band, leading to
a stronger p-type/n-type doping and a smaller absolute value of
the Peltier coefficient.
Conventional Peltier coolers consist of unipolar p- or n-type
thermoelements (Figure 2a). Each TE couple is arranged elec-
trically in series and thermally in parallel. When an electric bias
is applied, the carriers move between near-equilibrium distribu-
tions on either side of each semiconductor/metal junction and
exchange heat energy with the lattice (Figure 2b). The absorbed/
released energy at junctions almost entirely arises from the
transport of majority carriers (holes for p-type materials, elec-
trons for n-type materials), whereas that of the minority carriers
is negligible. Since holes and electrons have opposite charges,
the fabrication of TE modules with π-shaped p-n legs will pro-
mote the overall heat flux achieved from one side to the other.
In contrast to conventional Peltier coolers, the minority car-
riers of bipolar Peltier devices play a crucial role in current
and heat flow.[15] In this case, the p- and n-type semiconduc-
tors are directly connected to form a p-n junction (Figure 2c,d).
When no voltage is applied, there is a large built-in potential
opposing the flow of both holes and electrons across the junc-
tion. A suitable positive voltage could reduce the potential bar-
(1)
rier and supply free electrons and holes. Subsequently, carriers
that diffuse against the built-in potential will remove energy
from the lattice, leading to Peltier cooling at the p-n inter-
face.[16] Notably, the effective Peltier coefficients for both p- and
n-type semiconductor are bias-dependent. As the bias voltage

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Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the Peltier effect. a) Structure diagram and b) band structure of conventional Peltier device. c) Structure diagram and
d) band structure of bipolar Peltier devices.

increases, additional minority carriers are injected and the dis- thermoelements, electrical resistivity (ρ) or thermal conduc-
tance between the quasi-Fermi level and band edge decreases, tivity (κ) of the TE material, which can be written as:
which contributes to a smaller Peltier coefficient.[14]
ln l
R= ρn + P ρ p (4)
An Ap
2.2. Basic Parameters of Peltier Devices
An A
Considering that p-n bipolar device is difficult to implement K= κn + p κ p (5)
ln lP
practical external cooling application, the performance of the
Peltier cooler was analyzed based on the conventional device When the TE module is at zero heat load (Qc = 0), the max-
architecture. Cooling capacity (Qc), temperature difference (ΔT), imum temperature difference (ΔTmax) between the cold and hot
heat flux density (q), and coefficient of performance (COP) are sides can be obtained as follows:
four commonly used parameters for performance evaluation.
As current flows through the thermocouple, heat is pumped 1 (6)
∆ Tmax = ZDTc2
from one side to the other. The heat absorbed or released per 2
unit time is equivalent to the following:
The maximum cooling capacity (Qc,max) is specified at ΔT = 0
dQ /dt = Πnp I (2) and expressed as:
2
where Πnp is the Peltier coefficient of the module SnpTc2 (7)
Q c ,max =
(Πnp = Πp − Πn) and I is the electric current. 2R
However, apart from Peltier cooling, heat sources such as
Joule heating (Q J = 0.5 I2 R) and heat conduction (Q J = K(Th − Tc)) where Snp is the Seebeck coefficient of the module
are non-negligible during the heat pumping process.[12c] (Snp = Sp − Sn).
Therefore, the energy balance equation at the cooling side can The heat flux density (q), which is calculated from the
be represented as follows: cooling power per unit area, is another essential parameter
because high-heat-flux cooling devices are urgently desirable in
Q c = Πnp I − 0.5 I 2R − K (Th − Tc ) (3) the thermal management of high-power electronic devices. The
formulation of qmax can be written as:
where R and K are the electrical resistance and thermal
1  1 2 2  
 SnpTc / ρ  − [K (Th − TC )]
conductance of the TE module, respectively. They are closely qmax = (8)
related to the length (l) and cross-sectional area (A) of the l   2  

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According to Equation (8), qmax can be improved by opti-
mizing the performance of the TE material or reducing the
length of the thermoelements.
As for the cooling efficiency, the input power (P) of the Pel-
tier device is not only consumed by Joule heating, but also used
to overcome the Seebeck voltage resulting from the tempera-
ture difference between the two sides of the thermocouple. The
input power is given by:
P = Snp (Th − Tc ) I + I 2R (9)
Therefore, the COP can be obtained from Equations (3) and (9):
Q ΠnpI − 0.5 I 2R − K (Th − Tc )
COP = = (10)
P Snp (Th − Tc ) I + I 2R
For a given (Th − Tc), the COP varies with the applied cur-
rents. Solving the equation dCOP/dI = 0, the optimum current
(Icop) for maximum COP can be expressed as:
(Sn − SP )(Th − Tc )
I cop = (11)
R  1 + ZMT − 1
The maximum COP is given by:
Th
1 + ZMT −
Tc Tc (12)
COPmax = ×
Th − Tc 1 + ZMT + 1
where ZM T is the figure-of-merit of the TE module, which can
be written as:
2
SnpT
ZMT = (13)
KR
According to Equation (12), a flexible TE module with high
ZMT is beneficial for high cooling efficiency. For example, the
COP is significantly improved from 0.05 to 0.4 when ZMT
changes from 0.5 to 1 with fixed cold and hot side temperatures
of 250 and 300 K, respectively. Furthermore, the efficiency of
flexible Peltier coolers could even be comparable with home
refrigeration once their ZMT values increase to 4,[12c] but dis-
couragingly, it remains a formidable challenge and is hard to
see how such a high ZMT can be realized in the foreseeable
future. Therefore, thermoelectric cooling should be regard as
a complementary technique for specialized application such as
small-scale cooling and hot-spot cooling, rather than a compet-
itor to the conventional methods. In spite of this, great efforts
have been devoted to improve the ZMT of the thermocouple.
According to Equations (4) and (5), ignoring the metallic con-
nections and interfacial resistance, ZMT could be calculated
from the properties of TE materials. For a single component
material, the TE properties can be evaluated in terms of ZT:
S 2σ
ZT = T (14)
K varies with the contact area of the tip and sample, but is also
where S, σ, and κ are the Seebeck coefficient, electrical con-
ductivity, and thermal conductivity, respectively. Therefore,
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desirable thermoelectric materials should have a high Seebeck
coefficient, high electrical conductivity but low thermal conduc-
tivity toward achieving a higher ZMT of the thermocouple.
3. Measurement Techniques
The Peltier effect describes the process of absorbing or releasing
heat; hence, accurate temperature measurement is crucial for
reliably evaluating the device performance. However, Joule
heating also occurs as charge carriers dissipate energy within
the lattice and contributes to the temperature change in the Pel-
tier device. As a result, the coupling of thermal signals makes it
extremely challenging to separate that caused by Peltier effect.
To resolve the aforementioned limitations, several high-preci-
sion contact/non-contact temperature measurement techniques
along with the frequency-resolved method have been employed
for Peltier cooling characterization, which will be introduced in
the following section.
3.1. Contact Temperature Measurements
Contact temperature measurement involves sensors that are in
physical contact with the object and utilize heat conduction to
monitor the temperature changes. Thermocouples are the most
widely used contact thermometers owning to their low cost
and high accuracy. A thermocouple consists of two different
metals with a large difference in the Seebeck coefficient. When
a temperature difference (ΔT) exists at the metal junction with
respect to the reference temperature (T0), an open circuit poten-
tial V = (Smetal1−Smetal2) ΔT is detected and then could be con-
verted to sample temperature. Wees et al. employed a NiCu/Au
thermocouple junction (SNiCu≈ 30 μV K–1 and SAu≈ 2 μV K–1)
to investigate the Peltier effect of the graphene-metal junction
(Figure 3a).[17] This sensitive thermometry can reflect the tem-
perature changes in the mK magnitude. Furthermore, when a
low frequency AC current is introduced to generate Peltier sig-
nals at the junction and a lock-in technique is used to measure
the thermocouple voltage, the Peltier (∝I) and Joule heating
(∝I2) effects could be distinguished by separating the first har-
monic response to the heat modulation at the junction. How-
ever, despite the high sensitivity and applicability for extracting
temperature values from miniature devices, thermocouple fails
to realize thermal imaging.
Scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) is another contact
temperature measurement technique and can generate a
thermal map with a high spatial resolution of 0.3–0.5 µm by
integrating a small thermocouple on the tips of the atomic force
microscope (AFM).[18] When the tip is brought into contact
with the surface, the resistance of the thermistor will change
as a function of temperature. However, in previous studies,
the thermal contact resistance between the sample and tip
(Rts) would significantly reduce the measurement accuracy and
inevitably leads to systematic errors. Furthermore, Rts not only
influenced by different tribological effects when the sample
changes. To address this issue, Gotsmann et al. extracted Rts
from the ratio of the temperature senor to the measured heat
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Figure 3. Temperature measurement techniques of Peltier device. a) Illustration of temperature measurement of Au/NiCu thermocouple. Reproduced
with permission.[17] Copyright 2016, Nature Publishing Group. b) Illustration of temperature measurement by SThM. The insert figure is instantaneous
Peltier and Joule induced temperature distributions. Reproduced with permission.[19] Copyright 2016, Nature Publishing Group. c) Illustration of ther-
moreflectance for Peltier effect measurements. d) Illustration of LIT for Peltier effect measurements. Reproduced with permission.[24] Copyright 2018,
Nature Publishing Group.

flux then corrected the temperature map.[19] As shown in
Figure 3b, the instantaneous Peltier and Joule distributions of
nanowires, which eliminated the false signals caused by rough
surfaces or different material compositions, were obtained
from the improved SThM. In most cases, SThM is satisfactory
for macroscale thermometry. However, the limitations such as
high cost, limited device size, considerable acquisition time
for thermal images, and complex temperature calibration pro-
cesses must be considered for practical applications.[20]
3.2. Non-Contact Temperature Measurements
Thermoreflectance microscopy and IR thermography are non-
contact temperature measurement techniques with advantages
of being nondestructive, full-filed and real-time. Thermoreflec-
tance microscopy provides thermal images by analyzing the
surface reflectivity of the sample. The temperature variation
(ΔT) can be extracted from the reflectivity change (ΔR), which
can be expressed as:
∆T = ∆R / (R0C th )
where Cth is the thermoreflectance coefficient of the surface
material and R0 is the reflectivity at reference temperature (T0)
(Figure 3c). In principle, Cth must be calibrated with reference
samples such as Au surfaces to promote the reliability and accu-
racy of the result. Nielsch et al. conducted thermoreflectance
microscopy to characterize the cooling performance of inte-
grated µ-TECs.[21] When an electric current of 21 mA was
applied, a significant cooling effect was observed from the
thermal image and ΔT attained to 4 K. Upon switching the cur-
rent direction, the top side was heated with a ΔT of 3 K. Notably,
the data were extracted from the smooth area of n-type BiTeSe
legs because the thermoreflectance measurement is sensitive to
the surface roughness.
As for IR thermography, the detection mechanism is funda-
mentally different from the previous one. IR thermography is
based on Planck’s law—the radiation intensity emitted by the
object surface is temperature dependent at a specific wave-
length, which can be translated into the absolute temperature.
However, the Planck’s law for specific objects needs to be scaled
by emissivity because few objects are true blackbodies.[18] The
application of IR thermography is classified into passive or
active methods. In the passive IR test, the object is characterized
by its naturally emitted temperature field without an external
heat source.[22] However, it is unable to produce frequency-
dependent signals and thus can hardly meet the requirements
of Peltier cooling and Joule heating separation. Active infrared
(15) thermography, such as lock-in thermography (LIT), is more
popular for analyzing the heat sources in the Peltier devices.[23]
Saitoh et al. directly observed the anisotropic magneto-Peltier
effect in nickel using this method.[24] During the experiment,
a periodic rectangular AC current was applied. Joule heating is
not influenced by current direction (∝I2) and remains constant,
whereas the temperature modulation induced by Peltier effect

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oscillates with f. The thermal images oscillating with the same
frequency as the perturbation were extracted and then trans-
formed into the lock-in amplitude and phase images by Fou-
rier analysis. Subsequently, the separated Peltier signal can be
obtained from the phase image (Figure 3d). By this way, LIT
enables visualizing the spatial distribution of temperature mod-
ulation with high temperatures (< 0.1 mK) and spatial resolu-
tions (3–5 µm, determined by the wavelength of the detected
light).
4. Development of Thermoelectric Materials
The exploration of state-of-the-art TE materials is essential for
achieving high-performance flexible Peltier cooling devices
(Figure 1). One effective strategy is developing 2D inorganic TE
materials such as graphene, which can be efficiently exfoliated
and dispersed in solvents to form flexible TE films. In addition,
the deposition of inorganic TE thin films on flexible substrates
is also widely employed to enhance flexibility. Another poten-
tial method is utilizing intrinsic flexible OTE materials, which
have advantages of low toxicity, low cost and easy synthesis for
industrial applications. Although their relatively poor electric
transport properties may partly limit practical application in
Peltier cooling, the properties could be improved by enhancing
the film crystallinity and efficient doping process. In the fol-
lowing section, the recent progresses on flexible Peltier devices
based on inorganic and organic thermoelectric materials are
highlighted and discussed.
4.1. Inorganic Flexible Thermoelectric Thin-Film Materials
Although the Peltier effect was discovered in 1834, the first Pel-
tier device was not realized until 1954. Many inorganics with
high ZT values at medium and high temperature regions have
been developed over past decades, but the progress in low-
temperature and room-temperature inorganic materials for TE
cooling is still unsatisfactory. Bi2Se0.3Te2.7,[25] Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3,[26]
and Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattices[8b] exhibit a high ZT (>1) at
room temperature and are considered as promising candidates
for Peltier devices. However, the inherent rigidity and brittle-
ness of inorganic TE materials restrict their applicability to
flexible cooling. Therefore, great efforts have been devoted to
the search for flexibility in state-of-the-art low-temperature and
room-temperature inorganic thermoelectric materials.
2D inorganic materials such as graphene have great potential
for flexible Peltier cooling due to their outstanding mechanical
flexibility and favorable combination of electrical and thermal
transport properties. Wees et al. observed a ΔT of 15 mK at
the Au-graphene-Au junction when the applied current was
20 µA.[17] The direct measurement of the Peltier effect in gra-
phene provides a complementary method for comprehending
the nanoscale thermoelectric transport of 2D materials. More
recently, Di et al. combined graphene wrinkles with nanobubble
engineering and demonstrated a remarkably enhanced Peltier
effect with improved current density.[27] It is worth noting that
the overall ZT value of graphene is generally quite low due
to its ultrahigh thermal conductivity. However, the introduction
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of wrinkles is beneficial for reducing the thermal conductivity
by less than 50%.[28] In addition, the existence of structural
defects,[29] carbon isotopes,[30] and domain boundaries[31] will
also contribute to lower thermal conductivity and improved ZT
value to promote practical refrigeration applications. Although
majority of the current Peltier devices based on graphene are
fabricated on glass or silicon substrates, the mechanical flexi-
bility and potentially high TE performance render them capable
of achieving flexible cooling.
Additionally, flexible inorganic Peltier cooling greatly ben-
efits from the unrivaled combination of device physics and
mechanics. For example, vapor deposition or inkjet printing
of inorganics on soft polymeric or plastic substrates are prev-
alent methods. In these cases, polyimide (PI) is a commonly
used substrate because of its low thermal conductivity, high
mechanical performance, and excellent tensile strength. Based
on this polymer substrate, Rowe et al. fabricated a microcooler
with vacuum-deposited p-type Sb2Te3 and n-type Bi2Te3.[8a]
When a current of 4 mA was supplied, the temperature differ-
ence reaches ≈4 K under vacuum. Hng et al. also synthesized
p-type Sb1.5Bi0.5Te3 and n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 nanoparticles and
printed them on a PI substrate.[8c] The flexible device consisted
of three pairs of p-n legs and supplied steady state cooling when
the electric voltage was 1.5 V. However, because of the limited
tolerance temperature of the flexible organic substrates, high-
temperature deposited techniques or annealing is not suitable
in these cases. For example, zinc antimonide film must be
annealed at 325 °C to improve the TE performance, whereas
PI degrades when exposed to such high temperatures for pro-
longed periods.[32]
Furthermore, many inorganic TE materials exhibit high
ZT at room temperature and excellent bendability, indicating
their great potential in cooling application. An example is
CuI thin film, which is generally fabricated on a flexible PET
substrate,[33] shows a high ZT value of 0.21 at 300 K via opti-
mizing the sputtering rate of iodide. In addition, the rapid
development of medium- and high-temperature inorganic flex-
ible TE materials, such as silver chalcogenide Ag2X (X = S, Se,
Te), carbon-nanotube-based composites, ternary cobalt oxides
(Ca3Co4O9), or ZnO based on mica substrate, is also significant
to the advances of flexible TE cooling.[34]
4.2. OTE Materials
Different from strong covalent or ionic bonds in inorganics,
OTE materials form regular and tight packing between neigh-
boring molecules with relatively weak non-covalent bonds,
such as van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonds, and π–π inter-
actions, which endow the materials with excellent flexibility.
Furthermore, considering the favorable features of low thermal
conductivity, light weight, and solution processability, OTE are
desirable for flexible cooling applications. Over the past few
years, a series of conductive polymers such as PEDOT:PSS and
poly[Kx(Ni-ett)] have been employed to develop organic flexible
TE devices, demonstrating their great potential in power gen-
eration.[10,35] Whereas, studies in organic Peltier cooling are still
in their infancy with limited progresses (Figure 3). In 2005, Hu
et al. tried to demonstrate the organic Peltier device based on
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polypyrrole (PPy).[9] Given the unstable electrical properties and
poor thermal insulation between the two sides of the device,
the temperature difference of the device gradually decreased
to zero in ambient environment. In 2012, Zhu et al. fabricated
a thermoelectric module by combining n-type poly[Nax(Ni-ett)]
and p-type poly[Cux(Ni-ett)].[10] However, due to the fast heat
dissipation into the ambient environment, the TE module dis-
play negligible cooling effect. In spite of these initial studies,
the Peltier effect in organic materials are poorly understood
and their potential in flexible cooling applications has not been
demonstrated successfully.
Experimental observations of the Peltier effect in organic
molecular junctions are crucial for understanding the elec-
trical, thermoelectric, and energy dissipation characteristics at
the molecular scale. However, the low Π of molecular junction
and picowatt-level cooling signal lead to technical challenges in
their detection. Reddy et al. developed an experimental platform
by integrating conducting-probe AFM with custom-fabricated
calorimetric microdevices, enabling probing of molecular-
scale refrigeration.[11a] For highest occupied molecular orbital
(HOMO)-dominated Au–biphenyl-4,4′-dithiol (BPDT)–Au junc-
tions (p-type), as the probe was applied with a negative bias (−Vp),
electrons are injected into the electrode at an energy of μcal + e|Vp|
(μcal is the chemical potential of the calorimeter electrode, e is
the elementary charge) and leave the calorimeter electrode at
an energy of μcal (Figure 4a,b). Owing to the thermal broad-
ening of the Fermi–Dirac functions, charge transfer occurs at
the energies between the chemical potentials of the electrodes
(μcal < E < μcal + e|Vp|), as well as in a small range of energies
(E) above the chemical potential of the probe (E > μcal + e|Vp|)
or below the chemical potential of the calorimeter (E < μcal).
In this HOMO-dominated junction, an appropriate negative
bias caused electrons to flow below the chemical potential of
the calorimeter, causing cooling and heating in the calorim-
eter (E − μcal) and the probe (μcal + e|Vp|−E), respectively. The
experimental results showed the expected heating or cooling
of the calorimeter when the voltage was applied in the probe
shifted from +VP to −VP (Figure 4d,e). Similar results were
observed in the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO)-
dominated Au−4,4′-bipyridine (BP)–Au molecular junctions (n-
type) (Figure 4c). In this case, a positive bias contributes to net
cooling in the calorimeter. However, due to the relatively small
Seebeck coefficient (−6.9 ± 0.4 μV K–1), Peltier cooling was only
detected in a narrow range of positive voltages (Figure 4f).
In previous reports, majority of the studies on OTE cooling
failed to precisely extract the Peltier signal and quantitatively
study the cooling effect because severe Joule heating effect
induced by the relatively low electrical conductivity of OTE
materials. Besides, internal heat conduction and various heat
dissipation processes also significantly influence tempera-
ture distribution, thus making studies on the Peltier effect in
organics particularly challenging. To address this problem,
Zhu et al. employed a parylene-based suspended device and a
high vacuum degree of 6 × 10−4 Pa to minimize heat dissipa-
tion (Figure 5a).[11b] In addition, utilizing difference of the func-
tion relationships between Peltier or Joule effect with current,

Figure 4. Peltier effect in molecular junctions. a) A schematic illustration of the AFM-based platform for probing Peltier effect. Mechanism of the origin
of the Peltier effect in a molecular junction in which transport is dominated by the b) HOMO and c) LUMO. d) The heating and cooling power in
Au–BPDT–Au junctions. Voltage-dependent thermal power for e) Au–BPDT–Au and f) Au–BP–Au junctions. Reproduced with permission.[11a] Copyright
2018, Nature Publishing Group.

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Figure 5. Peltier effect in poly(Ni-ett) thin films. a) A schematic illustration of poly(Ni-ett) Peltier device on the suspended perylene film. b) The mecha-
nism for separating the Peltier cooling and Joule heating by a rectangular alternating current. c) Temperature distribution of the poly(Ni-ett) device and
the separate contributions of Peltier cooling and Joule heating. The temperature distribution induced by Peltier effect with various current densities at
d) 0.01 s and e) 3 s. f) Current-density-dependent temperature differences at the two contacts of the device. Reproduced with permission.[11b] Copyright
2018, Nature Publishing Group.

an alternating current bias with rectangular wave modulation
was used to extract the Peltier effect signal (Figure 5b,c). On this
basis, the experimental results from transient IR characteriza-
tion clearly revealed the Peltier-effect-induced temperature dis-
tribution in a poly(Ni-ett) device. As shown in Figure 5d, a slight
temperature change of < 0.1 K was measured at 0.01 s near the
semiconductor/metal junction when the applied current density
was 0.3 A mm−2. As the operating time continued to increase,
the internal heat conduction contributed to the diffusion of
heating or cooling energy into the central part of the film and
achieved a thermal balance with the Peltier effect less than 3 s
(Figure 5e). Furthermore, in real-time measurements, an unex-
pected ΔT of ≈40 K was observed when a large current density
of 5 A mm−2 was applied (Figure 5f), suggesting that OTE mate-
rials are promising candidates for flexible cooling devices.
5. Optimizing Strategy
Practical flexible cooling applications put forward urgent
requirements of state-of-the-art TE materials with high ZT and
rational designs of the device structure. To achieve high-perfor-
mance TE materials, dimensionality reduction provides an
effective route due to the decoupling of three TE parameters by
enhancing S and reducing κ, without significantly impacting σ.
In addition, considering the cooling features of flexible Peltier
devices, OTE materials are outstanding candidates for low-tem-
perature TE applications because some of them could maintain
high performance at ultra-low temperature. In terms of the
device design, current strategies focus on decreasing the elec-
trical and thermal contact resistance, regulating leg geometries
and leg spacing. Besides, some novel cooling mechanisms such
as the Thomson effect provide new insights into enhancing the
cooling performance.
5.1. Developing Low-Dimensional Materials
Dimensionality is essential for controlling the properties of
materials. For 3D TE candidates, three TE parameters of ZT are
strongly coupled and mutually contra-indicated. S is inversely
proportional to σ, which in turn is related to the electronic
thermal conductivity (κe) via the Wiedemann–Franz law, thus
making it particularly challenging to optimize ZT value.[36]
However, this scenario is quite different in low-dimensional
materials. With reduced dimensionality, the motion of carriers
is restricted in a certain direction and the electronic spectrum
drastically changes. These so-called quantum confinement effect
is beneficial for a great enhancement in ZT.[37] The improve-
ment mainly originated from two aspects: 1) the enhanced den-
sity of states (DOS) near EF leads to an increase in S; 2) a strong
modification of phonon group velocities, a significant enhance-
ment in the phonon relaxation rate together with increased
possibility of phonons scattering at the interface reduce the
lattice thermal conductivity. For the past two decades, excep-
tionally high ZT values in low-dimensional materials such as
quantum well superlattices (2D) and nanowires (1D) have been
demonstrated. In addition, coupled quantum dots (0D) are also
promising because they provide adequate conduction paths for
carriers but less effective heat conduction paths for phonons.
Hicks et al. prepared Pb1−xEuxTe/PbTe quantum well
superlattices with varying thicknesses.[38] As the thickness of

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Figure 6. Quantum size effects on TE performance of inorganics. a) DOS for a 2D quantum well. Reproduced with permission.[38] Copyright 2016,
Nature Publishing Group. b) S2n of PbTe/Pb0.927Eu0.073Te quantum wells as a function of well thickness at 300 K. Reproduced with permission.[39]
Copyright 1996, American Physical Society. c) Thermal conductivity of GaAs/AlAs superlattices as a function of the layer thickness at 300 K. Reproduced
with permission.[38] Copyright 2016, Nature Publishing Group. d) The heterojunction band diagram for Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattice. e) Transmission
electron micrograph of a Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 (10 Å/50 Å) superlattice. f) Potential COP as a function of ZT with various material size. Reproduced with
permission.[8b] Copyright 2001, Nature Publishing Group.

the material decreased to nanometers, the DOS of the quantum
wells changed to a step function and the steps occurred at the
energy of each quantized level (Figure 6a).[37b] Meanwhile, as
the well thickness decreased from 55 to 17 Å, S2n increased
exponentially and the maximum value nearly triple that of
bulk PbTe (Figure 6b). As for thermal conductivity, Chen et al.
observed a significant reduction in the κ of GaAs/AlAs super-
lattices (Figure 6c).[38] Notably, the partially specular or dif-
fuse interface scattering model demonstrated good agreement
with the experimental data of κ, indicating that the interfacial
phonon scattering by atomic scale interface roughness in super-
lattices also contribute to decreased thermal conductivity.[40]
Venkatasubramanian et al. further confirmed a large enhance-
ment of ZT in p-type Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattice (Figure 6d,e).[8b]
Owing to the high Seebeck coefficient of ≈238 μV K–1 and
ultra-low lattice thermal conductivity of 0.22 W m–1 K–1,
the ZT reached 2.4 at room temperature. Furthermore, the fab-
ricated Peltier device exhibited a significant cooling ability of
30 K at 300 K (Figure 6f), demonstrating that low-dimensional
materials have great potential for cooling applications.
Similar with inorganics, a low-dimensional structure in
hybrid inorganic/organic is also regarded as an effective
strategy to enhance ZT. Koumoto et al. prepared a hybrid
superlattice by intercalating hexylamine (HA) molecules into
titanium disulfide (TiS2) layers.[41] The electrochemical interca-
lation and solvent exchange process enabled a stable structure
with HA, which was confined within a narrower space of inor-
ganic layers (Figure 7a,b). After intercalation, the carrier density
of the hybrid material increased from 3.4 × 1020 to 7.59 × 1020 cm–3,
promoting a high conductivity of 790 S cm–1. Besides, the cou-
pling between inorganic and organic parts has an negative
influence on phonon transport in the in-plane direction; thus, a
low total κ of 0.45 W m–1 K–1 was achieved in the hybrid superla-
ttice, which is approximately one-sixth that of TiS2 single crystal
(Figure 7c). As a result, the ZT of TiS2[(HA)0.08(H2O)0.22(DMSO)0.03]
can reach up to 0.28 at 373 K (Figure 7d). Noteworthy, these
hybrid inorganic/organic superlattices also exhibited excellent
flexibility, indicating great potential in flexible modules.
5.2. Enabling High Performance at Low Temperatures
In most cases, flexible Peltier devices have to operate below
ambient temperatures owing to the cooling effect. Therefore,
candidate materials that can function well at low temperature
are highly desirable for TE cooling.[42] However, it is extremely
challenging to search for promising low-temperature TE mate-
rials.[43] Although considerable progress has been made in the
ZT enhancement of inorganics, majority of them only exhibit
optimal TE performance at a relatively narrow range of high
temperatures (>500 K). Besides, strategies such as band engi-
neering for inorganic materials to enhance ZT of medium- and
high-temperature may be not appropriate at low temperatures.
Instead, OTE materials could potentially contribute to attaining
this goal. The optimum TE performance of organic materials
usually achieves at room temperature and some of them can
even be well maintained at ultra-low temperatures through rea-
sonable molecular design.[44]

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Figure 7. a) A schematic diagram of TiS2 based hybrid superlattice. b) HAADF-STEM images of the layered structure. Temperature dependent c) κ and
d) ZT value of TiS2 single crystal and its hybrid superlattice. Reproduced with permission.[41] Copyright 2015, Nature Publishing Group.

Pflaum et al. synthesized DCNQI2Cu and TTF-I3, and meas-
ured the temperature-dependent TE properties (Figure 8a,b).[45]
The electrical resistivity of both materials declines rapidly with
temperature, exhibiting strong temperature dependence and
correlating with typical low-dimensional organic metals. Notably,
the phonon drag effect enabled a smaller slope of the temper-
ature-dependent Seebeck cofficient (WDCNQI2Cu = 333 meV)
in DCNQI2Cu than that of TTF-I3 (WTTF−I3 = 632 meV).
Besides, for TTF-I3, the electronic thermal conductivity (κe)
can be estimated via Wiedemann–Franz law κe = σL0T, where
L0 is the Lorenz number and T is the operating temperature.
The difference between κ and κe is a temperature-independent
parameter (κph) caused by heat-carrying phonons. However,
a weaker temperature dependence of κ was observed for

Figure 8. Low temperature TE performance of TTF2-I3 and DCNQI2Cu. Crystal structure of a) TTF2-I3 (top) and b) DCNQI2Cu (below). Temperature
dependent c) ρ, S, ĸ and d) PF, ZT of TTF2-I3 (yellow) and DCNQI2Cu (blue). Reproduced with permission.[45] Copyright 2017, Wiley-VCH.

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DCNQI2Cu than that expected from the Wiedemann–Franz
law, which resulted from different relaxation times for thermal
and electric field perturbations of the electronic system. There-
fore, combined the high Seebeck and low κ at low tempera-
ture, DCNQI2Cu exhibits particularly high PF and ZT ≥ 0.15
(< 40 K) (Figure 8c). However, considering the brittleness of
organic crystals, promising crystal growth techniques on flex-
ible substrates or transfer strategies enabling the separation of
substrate and crystals are indispensable for achieving their full
potential in low-temperature flexible cooling devices.[46]
5.3. Minimizing Thermal and Electrical Contact Resistances
When two solid bodies come in contact, the thermal and elec-
trical contact resistances (Rth and Rele) account for the tem-
perature drop at the interfaces and increment of the total
electric resistances (Figure 9a).[47] Both the experimental and
computational results indicate that the introduction of Rth and
Rele result in an elevated hot spot temperature in the TE module,
so a large thermal energy loss at the interface and deterioration
of the cooling performance are observed (Figure 9b). This is due
to the fact that Peltier cooling occurs at the interface, whereas the
existence of Rth and Rele increases the unwanted Joule heating
and reduces the heat conduction of solid bodies in thermal con-
tact.[48] Therefore, lowering the contact resistance is significant
for optimizing the cooling performance especially in flexible
cooling applications, where severe deformation of the Peltier
device might induce poorer connections at various interfaces.
Kumar et al. attempted to determine the appropriate range
of Rth and Rele for the cooling effect by measuring the max-
imum temperature drop at a hot spot with different contact
resistances (Figure 9c,d).[48] As Rth increased from 1 × 10−6 to
7.5 × 10−6 m2 K W–1, ΔTmax suffered from a sharp decline from
6.5 to 1 K, whereas the declining trend reduced as Rth increased
from 1 × 10−7 to 1 × 10−6 m2 K W–1. This indicates that the

Figure 9. Electrical and thermal contact resistances in Peltier device. a) Schematic of a realistic single thermocouple Peltier module with electrical
and thermal contact resistances. b) Experimental and computation result of hot-spot temperature at the bottom surface of the chip. ΔTmax of hot spot
as a function of c) thermal contact resistances or d) electric contact resistances. Reproduced with permission.[47] Copyright 2011, IEEE. e) Schematic
illustrating the wearable TEC placed on human skin. f) The effect of TE parameters on cooling behavior of Peltier device. Reproduced with permis-
sion.[5] Copyright 2019, Nature Publishing Group.

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maximum desirable value of Rth is < 1 × 10−7 m2 K W–1. Simi-
larly, an acceptable Rele value of < 10–11 Ω m2 can be obtained
due to the slight improvement in ΔT as Rele decreases from 10–11
to 10–12 Ω m2. To achieve this goal, the contact surface should
be perfectly clean and smooth, without oxides and impurities.
In addition, reducing the distance between the contact mem-
bers and increasing the contact area will also make a difference.
For a typical TEC module, thermoelectric interface materials
(TEiM) are beneficial to reduce the thermal and electrical con-
tact resistivity, maintaining low energy loss transport of heat
and electricity between electrode and TE material. To meet the
requirements, a proper TEiM should have matched the coeffi-
cient of thermal expansion and work function with TE mate-
rial.[49] Generally, Transition metals such as Fe, NiFe, and Ti
alloy are good choices for TEiM in TE devices. Despite these
progresses, interface materials for organic materials have not
been investigated in a systematic way and deserve focus atten-
tion in the future.
However, with the exception of the internal contact resistance,
the external Rth, which is induced by the thermal conductivity of
the object to be cooled, also presents a fundamental challenge
to cooling efficiency (Figure 9e). Priya et al. designed four TEC
modules with same dimensions and employed them to cool
human skin, which exhibited a large external Rth with a heat
transfer coefficient (h) of 20–100 W m−2 K−1 (R = 1/hA, where A
is the cross section of the TE leg).[5] TEC 1 was fabricated from
TE materials with a low ZT value of 0.62 at 25 °C, whereas the
others had the same ZT value of 1.25, but varied in terms of
their Seebeck coefficients (TEC 2), conductivities (TEC 3),
or thermal conductivities (TEC 4). In their experiment, the
source and sink were maintained at 22 and 27 °C, respectively.
Figure 10. The effect of device design on Peltier cooling performance. a) Schematic of AR and FF of TECs. b) Calculated cold-side temperature of the
wearable TECs at different FF and AR. c) Experimental cold side temperature and d) temperature difference of Peltier devices with a high-fill factor
(FF = 36% and AR = 1.0), low-fill factor (FF = 12% and AR = 1.0), ultra-low fill factor (FF = 5.2% and AR = 1.6). Reproduced with permission.[5] Copyright
2019, Nature Publishing Group.
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As expected, the lowest ZT resulted in a minimum cooling
capacity. Nevertheless, ZT is not a decisive parameter. TEC 4,
which exhibited a high ZT by lowering the thermal conductivity,
generated a much higher cooling performance than the others
(Figure 9f). However, as h increased to 1000 W m−2 K−1, which
means a lower external Rth, TEC with a high ZT by improving
Seebeck coefficient exhibits much better performance. There-
fore, the values of the three parameters of ZT should be taken
into consideration according to the variation external thermal
resistance.
5.4. Tuning Geometries and Spacing of the TE Legs
The cooling performance of a flexible Peltier device is also
closely related to the geometries and spacing of the legs. The
aspect ratio (AR) and fill factor (FF, the amount of space in a
Peltier module taken up by thermoelectric elements) are typical
dimensionless parameters to describe leg features (Figure 10a),
which can be expressed by
l
AR = (16)
w
Nw 2
FF = (17)
A
where l and w are the leg length and leg width, respectively.
N is the total number of legs, and A is the module base area.
Increases in the AR are typically beneficial for suppressing the
effect of contact resistance and acquiring a larger ΔT, but it will
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induce more Joule heating loss at the same time. A smaller FF,
which suggests that a limited number of TE legs comprise the
module, leads to less material consumption and allows a higher
sustainable ΔTmax across the Peltier device, whereas a larger FF
might promote a higher cooling capacity. In addition, external
load resistance or external thermal resistance will also make a
difference on optimal AR and FF of device. The theoretical cal-
culation is an effective strategy to determine the compromise
among multiple parameters and acquire optimal device design.
Priya et al. performed simulations of the TEC module for on-
body cooling applications.[5] Considering the high external
resistance of the operating condition, the optimum cold-side
temperature was achieved when FF was < 15% and AR was
2.0 (Figure 10b), which was further confirmed by experimental
data. By testing different devices with various AR and FF, an
ultra-low FF TEC (FF = 5.2%, AR = 2.0) device exhibited the
maximum temperature difference (Figure 10c,d).
5.5. Taking Advantage of the Thomson Effect
The Thomson effect, which originates from the relationship
between the Seebeck and Peltier effect, describes the absorbed
or liberated heat (Q) of the conductor as the current (I) and
temperature gradient (ΔT) are applied to it simultaneously.[50]
It can be expressed as
dQ /d t = βI∆T
where β is the Thomson coefficient with a unit of V/K. When
the current direction coincides with the temperature gradient
and the conductor absorbs heat, β is positive; otherwise, it is
negative. Optimization of the material properties by taking the
Thomson effect into account is beneficial for improving cooling
performance of Peltier devices.[51] A positive β will improve
cooling power because the Thomson effect causes heat absorp-
tion on the Peltier cooling side and liberates heat on the hot
side.
Lee et al. conducted numerical simulations of the commer-
cial thermoelectric module to reveal the effect of Thomson
cooling or heating on its cooling performance.[52] Figure 11a
depicts the temperature distribution in the TE cooler when ΔT
is 10 K. As a result of the large electrical resistance and low
Figure 11. Cooling performance of Peltier device when taking Thomson effect into account. a) Illustration of thermoelectric module with Thomson
effect. Dimensionless temperature as a function of dimensionless distance as b) β > 0 and c) β < 0. Reproduced with permission.[52] Copyright 2013,
Elsevier.
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thermal conduction, Joule heating accumulated inside the sem-
iconductor and caused a higher temperature in the middle of
the TE leg. The Thomson heat can be described as β ddθξ , where θ
and ξ are the dimensionless temperature and distance, respec-
tively. A positive β resulted in an improved cooling power of
5 ≈ 7% (Figure 11b). In contrast, a decline in the performance
was observed when β was negative (Figure 11c). This phenom-
enon became more evident as β increased. Therefore, if ther-
moelectric materials with properly designed β are employed,
a higher cooling power can be obtained. Additionally, Snyder
et al. proposed a novel concept of “Thomson coolers”, which
had an exponentially rising Seebeck coefficient with increasing
temperature.[53] They predicted that the Thomson cooler was
able to exhibit twice the ΔTmax compared to the traditional Pel-
tier device with the same ZT value.
6. Conclusions and Perspectives
Inorganic TE refrigeration has been commercialized in portable
refrigerators, space exploration, and power electronics. Over
the past decade, the explosive growth of wearable devices has
brought great opportunities for flexible Peltier cooling. In spite
of a few preliminary explorations, the development of thin-film
Peltier devices is still in infancy stage. Aiming at boosting their
rapid development of in the future, the improvement in ZT of
TE materials are always of vital importance. From the viewpoint
(18) of cooling applications, the devices should focus on realizing
the high heat flux, large temperature difference, and low power
consumption (Figure 12). As for the mechanical property of
materials and devices, reducing the thickness represents the
conventional method to improve the flexibility. The exploration
of novel way to manipulate the intrinsic flexibility will enable
more fascinating applications in the future.
Peltier devices with high heat flux can alleviate the heat
dissipation problem of nonplanar and integrated electronic
devices. To meet the requirement, exploring high-performance
TE materials, particularly those with low thermal conductivity,
deserves focus attention. OTE materials are promising can-
didates. However, owing to the anisotropic TE properties of
OTE materials, the utilization of in-plane properties to con-
struct vertical structure devices is a favorable choice. In addi-
tion to high heat flux, maintaining the temperature difference
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Figure 12. Strategies and prospects for high-performance flexible Peltier cooling devices.
between the hot and cold sides of Peltier devices is another
challenge. Except for the development of low thermal conduc-
tivity TE materials, increasing interest will be paid to modulate
the device geometry. At present, most Peltier devices possess
single-stage structure. Although the construction of multi-
stage devices can overcome the limitation, it can be hardly
achieved especially for OTE candidates. Low power consump-
tion is significant for achieving wearable and portable personal
cooling. With this in mind, more attention should be not only
devoted to developing high performance TE materials with
superior electrical conductivity to suppress Joule heating, but
also to introducing adhesive layer with decreased electrical and
thermal contact resistance.
So far, the flexibility in Peltier devices are still far from sat-
isfactory. For inorganic TE materials, constructing ultrathin,
low-dimensional and amorphous candidates can promote the
mechanical properties and TE performance simultaneously.[54]
In addition, introducing nanostructure tailor to create a void
space between the grains[55] or involving a carbon nanotube net-
work to guide the growth of layer-structured inorganic films[34b]
offers alternative way to fabricate freestanding films. Although
OTE materials have been widely considered to possess good
flexibility, more research attention will focus on fabricating
ultrathin, wearable, and stretchable devices toward a variety
of realistic applications. To satisfy the requirement of flexible
cooling device, searching for electrodes materials with high
conductivity and good bendability are also of great importance.
Stretchable multilayer graphene/graphene scrolls[56] or organics
with high conductivity show promising results in flexible
electronics, which might be strong potential for sophisticated
cooling application.
In summary, Peltier devices are promising candidates for flex-
ible cooling applications. The increased research interest in TE
performance improvement and device structure optimization
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offers more opportunities to achieve high-performance, low-
cost, and wearable Peltier devices in the near future.
Acknowledgements
This research was financially supported by the National Key Research
and Development Program of China (2017YFA0204700, 2018YF-
E0200702) and the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of CAS
(QYZDY-SSW-SLH024).
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Keywords
device design, flexible thermoelectric cooling, inorganic thermoelectric
films, organic thermoelectric materials, peltier effect
Received: December 13, 2020
Revised: January 22, 2021
Published online: March 5, 2021
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Jiamin Ding received her B.S. degree in chemistry from Lanzhou University in 2017. Currently, she
is pursuing her Ph.D. degree at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS).
Her research interest is on organic thermoelectric materials and devices.

Wenrui Zhao received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Lanzhou University (2016). Since 2016, he has
been at the Key Laboratory of Organic Solids in ICCAS for a Ph.D. degree. His main research interest
focuses on organic transistors and organic thermoelectric devices.

Wenlong Jin received his B.S. degree in applied chemistry from East China University of Science and
Technology (2015). Then, he joined ICCAS and obtained his Ph.D. in 2020. His research focus is on
organic thermoelectric and Peltier devices.

Chong-An Di received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from ICCAS in 2008. He was appointed to the
associate professor position in 2010 and promoted to professor in 2016 at ICCAS. His research cur-
rently focuses on the investigation of organic thin-film transistors and organic thermoelectric devices.

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www.advancedsciencenews.com www.afm-journal.de

Daoben Zhu is a professor and director of the Organic Solids Laboratory in the Institute of
Chemistry, CAS. He finished his graduate courses at the East China University of Science and
Technology in 1968. He was selected as an academician of the CAS in 1997. His research interests
include molecular materials and devices.

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