REVIEW
Thermoelectrics
Textile-Based Thermoelectric Generators and Their
Applications
Liming Wang, and Kun Zhang*
With the rapid development of Internet of Things and miniaturized
electronics, the demand for wearable power sources with high reliability and
long duty cycle promotes the exploration of wearable thermoelectric
generators (TEGs). In particular, textile-based TEGs that can perpetually
convert the ubiquitous temperature gradient between human body and
ambience into electrical energy have attracted intensive attention to date.
These lightweight and three-dimensional deformable TEGs comprised of
fibers, filaments, yarns, or fabrics offer unique merits as wearable power
source in comparison with conventional TEGs. In this review, we
systematically summarize the state-of-the-art strategies for textile-based
TEGs, including the structure design, fabrication, device performance, and
application. Existing critical issues and future research emphasis are also
discussed.
1. Introduction
Thermoelectric (TE) effect (or Seebeck effect) that realizes the direct
conversion between heat energy and electric energy has played an
important role in waste heat scavenging and solid-state thermal man-
agement.[1–4] The thermoelectric conversion efficiency of TE device
dominates by the dimensionless figure of merit zT = rS2T/j, where r
is the electrical conductivity, S is the Seebeck coefficient, j is the ther-
mal conductivity, T is the absolute temperature, and S2r is the power
factor, respectively. In past decades, conventional inorganic bulk-based
TE generators (TEGs) consisting of inorganic TE alloys, such as Bi2Te3,
PbTe, and CoSb3, and thin film-based TEGs made of inorganic TE mate-
rials, conducting polymers and derivatives, including poly(3,4-
ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), polyani-
line (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT),
have been intensively investigated.[5–17] However, their applications in
Internet of Things and wearable electronics are still vague, because
inorganic bulk-based TEGs are rigid with inferior flexibility, while thin
film-based TEGs can only be bent in one direction. Furthermore, they
lack essential wearable properties such as air permeability.
Recently, textile-based TEGs (T-TEGs) assembled from fibers, fila-
ments, yarns, or fabrics emerge as an exciting research realm and are
very promising for wearable applications, because of their excellent
Dr. L. Wang, Dr. K. Zhang
Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology of Ministry of Education,
College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai China
E-mail: kun.zhang@dhu.edu.cn
The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article
can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/eem2.12045.
DOI: 10.1002/eem2.12045
Energy Environ. Mater. 2020, 3, 67–79
mechanical properties, heat-moisture comforta-
bility, and cost-effective mass production by
well-established textile industrial processes.[18–
21]
T-TEGs not only enable TE power genera-
tion from body heat but also can work for
adaptive solid-state cooling fabrics.[22,23]
Although Tao et al. well reviewed T-TEGs most
recently, they mainly focused on fiber-based TE
materials and generators,[21] and further sys-
tematic review on the T-TEGs with diverse
architectures and their potential applications are
highly needed.
Hence, this review systematically outlines
the state-of-the-art T-TEGs, including the struc-
tural design, manufacturing, device perfor-
mance, and interesting application. As
summarized in Figure 1, we categorize T-TEGs
into four different classes based on the device
structure, one-dimensional (1D) T-TEGs in yarn/filament/fiber forms,
two-dimensional (2D) fabric-based T-TEGs, three-dimensional (3D) T-
TEGs with assembled TE yarn/filament/fiber into textiles, and 3D T-
TEGs with incorporated inorganic TE ingots. The intriguing applica-
tions of T-TEGs in wearable power generation, self-powered sensing,
and Peltier cooling are highlighted as well.
2. Design and Fabrication of T-TEGs
2.1. 1D T-TEGs
Yarn/filament/fiber-based TEGs with 1D architecture were usually fab-
ricated by connecting segmented TE yarns/filaments/fibers electrically
in series and thermally in parallel with electrodes. Table 1 summarizes
the reported methods for the preparation of TE yarns/filaments/fibers
so far.[16,22–39] The commonly used materials in TE yarns/filaments/
fibers can be divided into two types, one is conventional inorganic TE
materials, and another is organic TE materials including conductive
polymers and related composites as well as carbon nanocrystal-based
materials.
Organic TE materials are generally solution-processible, and thereby,
they can be manufactured into yarns/filaments/fibers by spinning tech-
niques or facile solution-coating methods. Wet spinning is a frequently
used process to prepare continuous polymer-based fibers in which
polymer should be dispersed in solvent, and the spinneret is submerged
in a coagulation bath to solidify the fibers. A lot of polymer/CNT com-
posite TE fibers have been successfully prepared by wet spin-
ning.[16,31,32] For example, Ito et al. prepared 3-m-long PEG/CNT
composite TE fiber with diameter of ~40 lm by wet spinning.[16] The
TE power factor of prepared composite fiber decreased with increasing
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Liming Wang received his
Ph.D. from Shanghai Institute
of Ceramics, Chinese Academy
of Sciences in 2016. After the
postdoctoral research work at
Texas A&M University, he was
appointed as a Distinguished
Professor in College of Textiles,
Donghua University in 2018.
His research focuses on textile-
based energy convertors
including thermoelectric gen-
erators, piezoelectric nanogenerators, and triboelectric nano-
generators, together with their applications as self-powered
sensors.

Kun Zhang received his doc-

toral degree at Texas Tech
University in 2014. During the
year of 2015, he continued his
research as a postdoctoral
research fellow at Texas A&M
University under the supervi-
Figure 1. Summary of the classification and applications of T-TEGs.
sion of Prof. Shiren Wang. He
is currently appointed as a
PEG concentration. When the PEG concentration was 0.01 wt%, the Distinguished Professor in
power factor of PEG/CNT composite TE fiber reached Department of Textile Engi-
~90 lW m 1 K 2. The composite TE fiber also exhibited air-stable n- neering at Donghua University.
type TE power factor after doping by 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium He has built a research group focusing on understanding the
hexafluorophosphate ([BMIM]PF6). Afterward, Kim et al. fabricated basic thermoelectric transport in low-dimensional thermo-
both p-type and n-type PVDF/CNT composite TE fibers with high electric materials, including conducting polymers and poly-
power factors of 378 lW m 1 K 2 and 289 lW m 1 K 2 via wet mer-/inorganic-based thermoelectric nanostructures, and
spinning, respectively.[32] Although the CNTs were well dispersed in their potential applications in wearable electronics, especially
the polymer matrix, but no aligned orientation was observed. To obtain in self-powered e-textiles.
highly aligned structure, Choi et al. fabricated both p-type and n-type-
doped CNT yarns by aerogel spinning, as illustrated in Figure 2a.[28]

Table 1. Summary of methods for preparation of TE yarns/filaments/fibers. This method can directly spin CNT yarns with highly aligned structure,
as confirmed by SEM characterization (Figure 2b). The obtained CNT
Methods Materials yarns comprised of thousands of double-walled CNTs (/ ~ 5 nm, Fig-
Wet spinning[16,25,31,32,34] PEG/CNT, PVDF/CNT, PEDOT:PSS/CNT, ure 2c). Due to the highly aligned nanostructure, the CNT yarns
Graphene showed excellent electrical conductivity which is comparable to some
metals (Figure 2d). By p-type doping with FeCl3 and n-type doping
Aerogel spinning[28] CNT
with polyethylenimine (PEI), the CNT yarns presented significantly
Gelation process[33] PEDOT:PSS
enhanced power factors of 2387 and 2456 lW m 1 K 2, respectively.
[26]
Extrusion technique Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3- Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 Facile solution-coating methods such as drop-casting and dip-coating
Electrospinning and Magnetron Sb2Te3-Bi2Te3 are also widely studied for the fabrication of polymer-based TE yarns/
sputtering[22] filaments/fibers.[27,29,36,40] For instance, Ryan et al. coated PEDOT:PSS
Thermal drawing technique[23,35,37–39] Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3-Bi2Se3, (Te85Se15)45As30Cu25, onto silk yarns by dip-coating method and the yarns possessed an aver-
In4Se3, Bi2Te3 age electrical conductivity of 14 S cm 1 and the Seebeck coefficient of
Casting (yarn/filament/fiber as substrate)
17 lV K 1.[29] More importantly, the fabricated yarns can have length
up to 40 m and are machine washable without deteriorated electrical
Drop-casting[36] PVP/CNT
properties.
Dip-coating[27,29,40] WPU/PEDOT:PSS/CNT, PEDOT:PSS, P3HT Conventional inorganic TE materials are rigid and brittle so that they
Thermal evaporation [24]
Ni-Ag are hard to be directly manufactured into flexible and freestanding
yarns/filaments/fibers. Together with the insoluble feature, physical
Abbreviations: PEG, polyethylene glycol; PVDF, poly(vinylidene fluoride); PVP, poly(N- depositing methods such as thermal evaporation and magnetron sput-
vinylpyrrolidone); WPU, waterborne polyurethane. tering were used for coating inorganic TE materials onto yarn/

Energy Environ. Mater. 2020, 3, 67–79 68 © 2019 Zhengzhou University


Figure 2. a) Schematic illustration of fabrication of CNT yarns by aerogel spinning. b) SEM images of the CNT yarns. c) TEM image of a single CNT. d)
Electrical conductivity of the CNT yarns.[28] Reproduced with permission from Ref. [28] Copyright 2017 American Chemical Society.
filament/fiber-based substrates at first. In 2008, Yadav et al. prepared
TE fiber by coating Ni and Ag layers onto flexible silica fibers via ther-
mal evaporation and demonstrated power generation performance of
the fiber-based TEG.[24] Lee et al. prepared p-type Sb2Te3 fibers and n-
type Bi2Te3 fibers separately by combining electrospinning with mag-
netron sputtering.[22] Firstly, highly aligned polyacrylonitrile (PAN)
nanofiber sheets were fabricated by electrospinning on a rotary drum.
Then, Sb2Te3, Bi2Te3, and Au electrodes were sequentially thermally
sputtered on both sides of PAN nanofiber sheet. Finally, the nanofiber
sheet was twisted into TE yarns. The zT values of prepared p-type
Sb2Te3 fibers and n-type Bi2Te3 fibers were 0.24 and 0.07, respectively.
Most recently, thermal drawing technique was developed to produce
inorganic TE fibers such as Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3, Bi2Se3, (Te85Se15)45As30Cu25,
In4Se3, and Bi2Te3 fibers.[23,35,37–39] The process required a cladding
material with glass transition temperature slightly higher than the melt-
ing point of TE materials. The TE fibers fabricated by this method usu-
ally had high TE properties but general mechanical flexibility. For
example, Zhang et al. prepared p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 fiber with power
factor of 3520 lW m 1 K 2 and n-type Bi2Se3 fiber with power factor
of 650 lW m 1 K 2, respectively.[23]
Figure 3 summarizes the power factors of typical organic and
inorganic TE yarns/filaments/fibers. The power factors of most inor-
ganic TE yarns/filaments/fibers are much higher than that of
organic ones. Although the power factors of some CNT- or gra-
phene-based yarns/filaments/fibers were very high, but the probably
high thermal conductivity can lead to very low zT values. It is noted
that CNT-based TE yarns/filaments/fibers can be converted from p
type to n type after simple post-treatment with n-type dopants such
as PEI and [BMIM]PF6.
2.2. 2D T-TEGs
In common, T-TEGs with 2D architecture are based on conventional
textile fabrics, such as cotton, silk, and nylon-based knitted, woven,
and nonwoven fabrics. Commercial fabrics with good flexibility and
comfortability are ideal substrates to support TE thin films. Similar to
the preparation of TE yarns/filaments/fibers by using commercial
yarn/filament/fiber, 2D T-TEGs are obtained by coating fabrics with
Energy Environ. Mater. 2020, 3, 67–79
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organic or inorganic TE materials.[41–50] The resultant TE fabrics were
cut into strips and connected by metal electrodes. Ding et al. reported
n-type Ag2Se thin film on flexible nylon fabric with an ultrahigh power
factor of ~987 lW m 1 K 2 at 300 K.[50] Furthermore, it displayed
excellent flexibility with negligible degradation in electrical conductiv-
ity after 1000 bending cycles although Ag2Se materials are commonly
inflexible. The flexibility was attributed to the nylon fabric and porous
nanostructure of Ag2Se thin film. The work provided a simple and
effect approach to fabricate high-performance flexible TE films. How-
ever, organic-based TE fabrics displayed much poor TE properties. For
example, the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of PEDOT:
PSS-coated polyester fabric were only ~1.5 S cm 1 and ~16 lV K 1 at
300 K, respectively.[41]
Unlike commonly used coating methods, Morata et al. presented an
industrially scalable manufacturing method for fabrication of large-area
and cost-effective TE fabrics.[51] A case of TE fabric made up of p-type sili-
con nanotubes was fabricated by depositing silicon layers onto sacrificial
substrates of electrospun carbon nanofibers. In a typical procedure, carbon
nanofiber fabric was obtained from annealing as-electrospun PAN fabric
(Figure 4a). Then, it was used as sacrificial template and coated by poly-
silicon layer (Figure 4b). After calcination, the carbon core was removed
and the silicon shell was oxidized, producing silicon oxide nanotube (Fig-
ure 4c). Finally, the active poly-silicon layer was deposited onto the silicon
oxide nanotube (Figure 4d). The flexible TE fabric displayed the highest zT
value of 0.34 among silicon-based macroscopic materials at 550 °C. This
method is universal to different materials, and the nanostructure is highly
tunable, providing a new approach for manufacturing high-performance
fabric-based TEGs in the future.
2.3. 3D T-TEGs
2.3.1. 3D T-TEGs Based on TE Yarn/Filament/Fibers
In fact, the temperature difference between human body and ambience
is vertical to skin. 3D T-TEGs based on TE yarns/filaments/fibers can
sufficiently harvest thermal energy and are easily integrated into textiles
for wearable electronics. The prepared flexible TE yarns/filaments/
fibers can be knitted, woven, or embroidered into 3D textiles.
69 © 2019 Zhengzhou University

Figure 3. Room temperature power factors of typical organic and inorganic TE yarns/filaments/fibers.
Knitting is a common method to produce stretchable and soft fabrics
by interlocking loops of yarns. There are two main knitting methods:
weft knitting with one continuous yarn forming courses across the fab-
ric (Figure 5a) and warp knitting with series of yarns forming wales in
the vertical direction (Figure 5b).[52] The knitted fabrics showing ultra-
high elasticity up to 500% are much more flexible than other types of
fabrics due to their loose structure and thus may have better thermal
insulation performance. In 2002, Yamamoto et al. proposed a knitted
wire panel as a TEG.[53] The knitted wire panel consisted of two kinds
of metal wires including alumel and chromel wire. A 8 9 8 knitted
Figure 4. a) The electrospun carbon nanofiber, b) poly-silicon layer on the carbon nanofiber, c) silicon oxide nanotube after annealing of the carbon
nanofiber, d) poly-silicon layer coating the silicon oxide nanotube. Scale bars are 200 nm.[51] Reproduced with permission from Ref.[51] Copyright 2018 Nature
Publishing Group.
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wire panel demonstrated high open-circuit
voltage of 6.52 mV and maximum power
output of 11.22 lW under a temperature
difference of 26 K. This work demon-
strated the feasibility of fabricating T-TEGs
by manipulating TE yarns/filaments/fibers
into textiles via knitting method.
Weaving is another industrial textile
production method that is applied to pro-
duce woven textiles by interlacing warp
and weft yarns at right angles. Different
weaving methods can result in various tex-
tile structures, including plain weave, twill
weave, and satin weave, as shown in Fig-
ure 5c–e.[52] Lee et al.[22] fabricated a
plain-weave T-TEG using p-type Sb2Te3
and n-type Bi2Te3-coated electrospun nano-
fiber-based yarns.
Embroidery is the method of using nee-
dles to stitch yarns/fibers into fabrics with
decorative patterns. For instance, Wu
et al.[30] reported p-type WPU/PEDOT:
PSS/CNT-coated polyester yarns and n-type
WPU/N-doped CNT-coated polyester yarns into a spacer fabric to fabri-
cate T-TEG. The p-type and n-type TE yarns were electrically connected
in series by patterning silver electrodes on the top and bottom of the
loops of yarns.
2.3.2. 3D T-TEGs with Incorporated Inorganic TE Ingots
The state-of-the-art TE materials with excellent thermoelectric properties
at room temperature are bismuth telluride-based alloys. These inorganic
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summarizes the comparison of mate-
rials, voltage output, power output,
and power density of T-TEGs.

3.1. Power Output of 1D T-TEGs

Ren et al.[26] assembled two p-type

Figure 5. Two typical knitted structures: a) weft knitting and b) warp knitting. Three typical woven structures: c) generated maximum power output of
plain weave, d) twill weave, and c) satin weave.[52] Reproduced with permission from Ref.[52] Copyright 2019 ~12 nW at temperature difference of
Elsevier.
TE ingots are commonly assembled into fabrics by printing methods to
achieve flexible T-TEGs with high thermoelectric generation perfor-
mance. [54–56]
For example, Kim et al.[54] prepared p-type Sb2Te3 TE thick films
and n-type Bi2Te3 TE thick films on glass fiber fabric by screen printing.
The flexible glass fiber fabric showed little influence on the TE proper-
ties of printed TE films. The zT values of printed Sb2Te3 thick films and
n-type Bi2Te3 thick films were ~0.3 at room temperature. In order to
fabricate TEG, copper foils were printed to interconnect the p-type and
n-type TE thick films via a Ni peel-off method.[54] The achieved flexible
T-TEG was very thin (thickness, ~500 lm) and light (density,
~0.13 g cm 2). Similarly, Shin et al. also coated TE thick films onto
fabrics by screen printing method.[56] The proper selection of suitable
binder (methyl cellulose) provides desired viscosity at very low additive
loading, and the printed p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3
films displayed high zT values of 0.65 and 0.81 at room temperature
after sintering and hot pressing, respectively.
3. Thermoelectric Power Generation
The thermoelectric power output of T-TEG is defined as P = U2R/
(R + r)2, where U is the open-circuit voltage, R is the loading resis-
tance, and r is the internal resistance of T-TEG. The power output
reaches the maximum Pmax = U2/4r as R = r. The power output of TEG
is dominated by the applied environmental conditions, temperature-de-
pendent materials’ properties, the structural design of TEG including
the geometric parameters of TE legs, the thermal and electrical contact
resistance between TE legs, as well as the TE leg gap, or fillers. Table 2
Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 fibers and two n-type
Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 fibers onto copper elec-
trodes with the assistance of silver paste
to construct 1D T-TEG. As the tempera-
ture difference is 12 K, the TEG
showed maximum power output of
18 nW. Zhang et al.[23] demonstrated
flexible 1D fiber-based TEG comprising
similar components with mW cm 2-
level power density at temperature dif-
ference of 60 K. Organic TE yarn/fila-
ment/fiber-based TEGs were also
reported with the potential capability
of power generation. For example, a
prototype of PEDOT:PSS-coated silk
yarn-based TEG with 26 p-type legs
66 K.[29] Nonetheless, n-type conduc-
tive polymer-based TE yarns/fibers are
still lacking owing to the poor electron
transport properties and weak stabil-
ity.[3,57] Instead, n-type-doped polymer/CNT composite-based TE fibers
offer a good choice. Kim et al.[31] assembled fiber-based TEG by connect-
ing wet-spun p-type PEDOT:PSS/CNT fibers and n-type PEDOT:PSS/
CNT/PEI fibers with silver paste. The maximum power output of the TEG
with 12 pairs of p-n TE fibers was 0.43 lW at temperature difference of
10 K. Fiber-based TEG consisting of 16 pieces of p-type PVDF/CNT TE
fibers and 15 pieces of n-type PVDF/CNT/PEI TE fibers was fabricated via
similar procedure, generating power output of 0.61 lW.[32]
However, p-type and n-type TE yarns/filaments/fibers were sepa-
rately prepared, thereby requiring further process of fabricating con-
necting electrodes. More significantly, the contact resistance between TE
yarns/filaments/fibers and electrodes can deteriorate the power genera-
tion. To address this issue, Choi et al. prepared an all-CNT yarn-based
TEG without additional metal electrodes (Figure 6a,b).[28] The spun
CNT yarn was alternatively doped into p-type by FeCl3 and n-type by
PEI, and the undoped regions between them were used as electrodes.
The obtained TEG with 60 pairs of p-type and n-type CNT yarns dis-
played very high voltage density of 1.2 V g 1 (Figure 6c) and power
density of 697 lW g 1 (Figure 6d) at temperature difference of 40 K,
respectively. The output voltage and power could be further enhanced
by increasing the numbers of p-n pairs while the average resistance per
p-n pair kept nearly constant (Figure 6e,f), indicating the importance
of reducing contact resistance between TE yarns and electrodes.
3.2. Power Output of 2D T-TEGs
Inorganic TE material-based fabrics were investigated
recently.[42,44,47,50] For instance, n-type TE fabrics were prepared by

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Table 2. Comparison of device performance of T-TEGs.

Materials Temperature difference Maximum voltage Maximum power Power density Ref.
1D T-TEGs
P type: Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3, N type: Bi2Se3 60 K 97 mV 1.65 lW 23.4 W m 2 [23]

[24]
P type: Ag, N type: Ni 6.6 K 0.9 mV 2 nW
[26]
P type: Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3, N type: Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 12 K 10 mV 18 nW
P type: CNT/FeCl3, N type: CNT/PEI 5K 47 mV 4.2 lW [28]

[29]
P type: PEDOT:PSS 66 K 21 mV 12 nW
P type: PEDOT:PSS/CNT, N type: PEDOT:PSS/CNT/PEI 10 K ~ 8 mV 0.43 lW [31]

P type: PEDOT:PSS/CNT, N type: PEDOT:PSS/CNT/PEI 10 K ~ 16 mV 0.61 lW [32]

P type: PEDOT:PSS, N type: CNT/PEI 60 K 20.69 mV 0.43 lW 4.81 W m 2 [33]

2D T-TEGs
PEDOT:PSS 75.2 K ~ 4.4 mV 12.29 nW [41]

2 [42]
P type: PEDOT:PSS, N type: Ag2Te 20 K 3.5 mV 5 nW 6 mW m
[45]
P type: PEDOT:PSS, N type: constantan 74.3 K 18.7 mV 212.6 nW
[49]
PEDOT-Cl 30 K 1.2 mV 4.5 nW
2 [50]
Ag2Se 30 K 18 mV 460 nW 2.3 W m
3D T-TEGs
P type: PEG/CNT, N type: PEG/CNT/[BMIM]PF6 25 K ~ 10 mV ~ 8 nW [16]

P type: Sb2Te3, N type: Bi2Te3 200 K 45.2 mV 14.1 lW 8.56 W m 2 [22]

[30]
P type: WPU/PEDOT:PSS/CNT, N type: WPU/N-doped CNT 66 K 0.8 mV 2.6 nW
P3HT 50 K ~12 mV 1.15 lW [40]

coating Ag2Te nanocrystal onto nylon fiber mesh.[43] After connecting
with p-type PEDOT:PSS-coated nylon, the achieved TEG generated
power of ~5 nW under 20 K temperature difference. 2D T-TEG con-
sisting of four pieces of Ag2Se films demonstrated an open-circuit volt-
age of 18 mV and the maximum power output of 460 nW when the
temperature difference was 30 K.[50]
The power output of organic TE material-based 2D T-TEGs were also
reported.[41,43,45,49] Du et al.[41] immersed commercial polyester yarn-
based fabric into PEDOT:PSS aqueous suspension with 5 wt% dimethyl
sulfoxide (DMSO) to achieve flexible and air-permeable 2D TE fabric
(Figure 7a–c). 2D fabric-based T-TEG was manufactured by cutting
PEDOT:PSS-coated fabric into strips and subsequently connecting with
thin silver wires (Figure 7d,e). The TEG can generate voltage and
power after loading a temperature difference along the in-plane direc-
tion of TE fabric (Figure 7f–j). The maximum power was 12.29 nW
for TEG with five pieces of fabric strips at temperature difference of
75.2 K. Then, Du et al.[45] reported multifold enhancement in power
output of TEG comprising PEDOT:PSS-coated cotton fabric strips (p-
type) and constantan wires (n-type). For the TEG with 5 pairs of p-n
junction, high voltage output of 18.7 mV and maximum power output
of 212.6 nW were generated at temperature difference of 74.3 K. Li
et al.[43] prepared TE fabrics by coating PANI/CNT composites onto
polyester fabrics by ultrasonication. At temperature difference of 75 K,
the TEG fabricated from two PANI/CNT composite-coated fabric strips
showed maximum power of 47 nW. Besides the dip-coating method,
organic TE fabrics were also synthesized by the vapor-phase polymer-
ization of PEDOT-Cl onto cotton fabrics.[49] An all-fabric-based TEG
made of PEDOT-Cl-coated fabrics can produce stable voltage of
~23 mV when worn on the hand.
Both inorganic and organic TE material-based 2D T-TEGs have been
fabricated and exhibited good power output. However, 2D T-TEGs
require thermal gradient built in the in-plane direction. It is challenging
to integrate 2D T-TEGs into wearable electronics for practical applica-
tions.
3.3. Power Output of 3D T-TEGs
As compared to 1D/2D T-TEGs, T-TEGs with 3D structure made up of
TE yarns/filaments/fibers not only have the advantages of much better
deformability and heat-moisture comfortability, but also can sufficiently
harvest heat energy since the temperature difference between human
body and the surroundings is vertical to skin.
The power output of 3D T-TEGs assembled in different fabric struc-
tures was investigated. Figure 8a–f displays the schematic illustrations
and photographs of zigzag-stitch, garter-stitch, and plain-weave T-TEGs
using p-type Sb2Te3 yarns and n-type Bi2Te3 yarns.[22] At temperature
difference of 55 K, the power output per area and per couple were
0.11 W m 2 and 0.24 lW for the zigzag-stitch T-TEG (Figure 8g),
and 0.09 W m 2 and 0.21 lW for the garter-stitch T-TEG (Figure 8h),
respectively, while the plain-weave T-TEG (Figure 8i) presented the
highest power output per area of 0.62 W m 2 and 1.01 lW per cou-
ple, respectively. Besides, the power output was proportional to DT2.
When the temperature difference increased to 200 K, the generated
power greatly increased to 8.56 W m 2 and 14.1 lW per couple,
respectively.
Embroidery is a facile method for fabricating 3D T-TEGs from TE
yarns/filaments/fibers. The power output of embroidered 3D T-TEGs

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 25750356, 2020, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eem2.12045 by HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY HU NG HOM, Wiley Online Library on [04/01/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Figure 6. a) Photographs of assembled CNT yarn-based TEG. b) The setup of thermoelectric power generation measurement. c) Output voltage of the
fabricated TEG as a function of temperature difference. d) Output power as a function of loading resistance. e) The summary of output voltage and power
of TEGs with different pairs of p-n junction at temperature difference of 5 K. f) Average resistance per p-n pair and total resistance of the TEG with different
numbers of p-n pairs.[28] Reproduced with permission from Ref.[28] Copyright 2017 American Chemical Society.

has studied as well. At a temperature difference of 66 K, the embroi-
dered T-TEG made up of p-type WPU/PEDOT:PSS/CNT-coated polye-
ster yarns and n-type WPU/N-doped CNT-coated polyester yarns
generated an open-circuit voltage of 800 lV and power output of
2.6 nW, respectively.[30] Ito et al.[16] prepared p-type CNT/PEG yarn
via wet spinning. Subsequently, the obtained yarn was tightly coined
around a thin plastic strip. N-type dopant ([BMIM]PF6) was dropped
onto one surface of the plate to dope a half part of the yarn. Finally, T-
TEG was realized by embroidering the segmented TE yarn into a non-
woven felt fabric. The T-TEG comprising 8 p-n TE couples generated
open-circuit voltage of ~10 mV and power output of ~8 nW at a tem-
perature difference of 25 K. Likewise, Qu et al.[40] processed T-TEG
containing p-type P3HT-coated and n-type Ag paste-coated cotton
threads by embroidery. The maximum power output of the generator
with 13 p-n TE legs was 1.15 lW under temperature difference of
50 K.
4. Passive Sensing
Besides their promising potentials as wearable power sources, T-TEGs
can also work as passive sensors by self-powering for detecting temper-
ature, pressure, and strain.[58–64] TE devices for thermal sensing require
no external power supply and can response quickly.[58–61] The working
principle of thermocouples for temperature measurement is based on
the Seebeck effect. Furthermore, recent reported flexible and elastic
organic TE materials enable the simultaneous detection of temperature
and pressure, displaying promising applications in multi-function self-
powered sensing.[58,59]
As aforementioned in Table 1, flexible (Te85Se15)45As30Cu25 wire
was prepared by thermal drawing.[39] The wire displayed not only high
TE power factor but also excellent thermal sensing performance, as
illustrated in Figure 9a–f. When a temperature difference was applied
between the two wire ends, thermoelectric voltage was generated
because of the whole diffusion (Figure 9a). Figure 9b records the real-
time temperature located at the 20% length of the whole wire as well
as the corresponding output voltage between the two wire ends. The
single TE wire-based thermal sensor showed temperature resolution
higher than 0.05 °C (Figure 9c). Additionally, it was capable of localiz-
ing the position of thermal source. As shown in Figure 9d, the output
voltages were different when touching different positions along the
wire. For finger touching, the response time was as short as 3 s (Fig-
ure 9e). More importantly, the TE wire showed good mechanical flexi-
bility. The bending radius was only ~2.5 mm even for the fiber with
thickness of 0.6 mm (Figure 9f). Nonetheless, it was hard to simulta-
neously detecting the temperature and position of thermal source in the
single TE wire-based thermal sensor. The authors further assembled a
3 9 3 TE wire array and embedded it into a flexible fabric (Figure 9g).

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Figure 7. a) The chemical formula of PEDOT:PSS. b) SEM image and c) optical image of PEDOT:PSS-coated fabric. d) Schematic illustration of fabrication
procedure of the fabric-based TEG. e) Photograph of the fabricated fabric-based TEG. Schematic illustration of power generating by f) a single PEDOT:PSS-
coated strip and g) multiple PEDOT:PSS-coated strips. h) The output voltage of fabricated TEG as a function of temperature difference. i) Calculated Carnot
efficiency and power as a function of environmental temperature. The human body temperature is assumed to be 310 K. j) Output voltage and power as a
function of current for the fabricated TEG.[41] Reproduced with permission from Ref.[41] Copyright 2015 Nature Publishing Group.

Figure 9h recorded the output voltages of the TE wire array when fin-
ger touching the marked points. The distinguishable voltage signals
enabled the simultaneous detection of the temperature and position of
thermal source. Figure 9i gave two examples for temperature and posi-
tion identification, one is finger heating (33 °C) and another is ingot
cooling (22 °C). The corresponding thermal images recorded by IR
camera and reconstructed thermal maps using the data of TE wire array
were shown in Figure 9j,k. Similarly, Jung et al.[62] fabricated a self-pow-
ered thermal sensor by coating PEDOT:PSS/Ag nanoparticle TE inks onto a
knitted textile substrate that can simultaneously detect the temperature and
position of thermal source. Furthermore, the TE thermal sensor also pos-
sessed good stretchability with stable TE performance and showed poten-
tial application for detecting strain.[62,64] Zeng et al.[65] also investigated
the thermal sensing performance of n-type Ag2Te nanowire TE films sup-
ported by nylon fabrics. Due to the interlocking structure, the fabricated
Ag2Te nanowire films displayed good flexibility and high power factor of
315 lW m 1 K 2. The flexible TE films displayed high sensitivity with a
short response time of 1.05 s and reset time of 2.1 s when acting as self-
powered thermal sensor, which can meet the requirements of artificial
intelligent systems.
5. Peltier Cooling
The solid-state cooling systems using Peltier effect have obvious advan-
tages over traditional refrigeration techniques, including the high

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 25750356, 2020, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eem2.12045 by HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY HU NG HOM, Wiley Online Library on [04/01/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Figure 8. a–c) Schematic illustrations and d–f) corresponding photographs of the fabricated zigzag-stitch, garter-stitch, and plain-weave T-TEGs. The scale
bars are 2 mm. g–i) The power output per textile area (Pa) and per TE couple (Pc) of the fabricated zigzag-stitch, garter-stitch, and plain-weave T-TEGs as a
function of temperature difference.[22] Reproduced with permission from Ref.[22] Copyright 2016 Wiley-VCH.

reliability, no moving parts, small volume, and precise temperature
control. Therefore, T-TEGs have great potentials for human body ther-
mal regulation if the thermoelectric performance is high enough.[66]
In 2005, Hu et al.[67] for the first time presented the concept of
cooling fabric based on Peltier effect. The authors prepared PPy-coated
fabrics with Seebeck coefficient of ~10 lV K 1 and investigated their
cooling performance. However, the Peltier effect was negligible because
of the instable electrical properties of fabrics, insufficient thermal insula-
tion between the two sides of fabric and low TE properties of organic
materials. Until recently, Jin et al.[68] constructed a thermally suspended
device and utilized an infrared imaging technique to precisely extract
the Peltier effect in organic TE materials. Maximum temperature differ-
ence of 41 K was realized in the two sides of poly(Ni-ett) film, reveal-
ing the potential in flexible solid-state cooling. Moreover, the Peltier
effect in T-TEG based on inorganic TE materials was reported as well.
For instance, Zhang et al. prepared flexible p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-type
Bi2Se3 wires by thermal drawing and assembled them into textile to con-
struct T-TEG (Figure 10a,b).[23] The cooling performance of T-TEG with

Energy Environ. Mater. 2020, 3, 67–79 75 © 2019 Zhengzhou University

 25750356, 2020, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eem2.12045 by HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY HU NG HOM, Wiley Online Library on [04/01/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License

Figure 9. a–f) Thermal sensing performance of a single TE wire. a) Schematic illustration of testing principle. b) Real-time recording the temperature of the
heat source located at the 20% length of the whole wire via the corresponding output voltage from the temperature difference between the two ends of the
wire. c) Temperature resolution of the TE wire sensor. d) Real-time output voltages by touching different positions of the wire. e) Sensitivity of the TE wire
sensor by finger touching. f) Minimum bending radius of the TE wires with different wire thicknesses. g–k) Thermal sensing performance of a 3 9 3 TE wire
array. g) Photograph of the fabricated 3 9 3 TE wire array embedded into a flexible fabric and the marked points for finger touching. h) Corresponding
output voltages of the TE wire array when touching the marked points. i) Finger heating (33 °C) and ingot cooling (22 °C) on the TE wire array.
Corresponding j) thermal images recorded by IR camera and k) reconstructed thermal maps using the data of TE wire.[39] Reproduced with permission from
Ref.[39] Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society.

Energy Environ. Mater. 2020, 3, 67–79 76 © 2019 Zhengzhou University


Figure 10. a) Minimum bending diameters of the prepared TE wires with different diameters. b) Photographs of the fabricated wearable T-TEG. c) Simulated
temperature profile of T-TEG with two pairs of p-n TE wires at an input current of 2 mA by finite element modeling. d) Corresponding experimental
temperature profile recorded by IR camera. e) Simulated and experimental temperature differences as a function of input current.[23] Reproduced with
permission from Ref.[23] Copyright 2017 Elsevier.
two pairs of thermoelectric wires was evaluated by finite element model-
ing and experimental characterizations. In Figure 10c, the simulated tem-
perature reduction was 22.1 °C with the temperature difference of 4.7 °C
when the hot side was fixed at 26.8 °C under an input current of 2 mA.
The measured temperature reduction was 23.6 °C with the temperature
difference of 3.6 °C recorded by IR camera (Figure 10d). The difference
between simulation and test results might be induced by the measurement
accuracy of IR camera as well as the unoptimized condition of T-TEG. Fig-
ure 10e displays both the simulated and experimental temperature differ-
ences as a function of input current. Maximum temperature reduction of
~5 °C was obtained when the input current was 3.5 mA.
6. Conclusions and Outlook
The development of textile-based TEGs using both organic and inorganic
TE materials has been held in high regard in recent years. This mini review
summarizes state-of-the-art T-TEGs in the respects of structure design, fab-
rication, device performance, and application. The basic unit of T-TEGs in
terms of TE fibers/filaments/yarns or fabrics has been prepared by textile
processes (e.g., wet spinning and electrospinning) and routine methods
(e.g., coating and printing). The reported T-TEGs are intriguing in wear-
able power generation, passive sensing, and Peltier cooling.
Energy Environ. Mater. 2020, 3, 67–79
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Despite their advantages of low cost, light weight, intrinsic flexibil-
ity, and eco-friendly, TE properties of organic-based yarns/filaments/
fibers/fabrics are urged to be further improved. Regarding the inor-
ganic-based T-TEGs, the high cost, limited flexibility, and complicated
fabrication process are the main challenges. Flexible T-TEGs with 3D
structure that can utilize body temperature to form sufficient thermal
gradient are expected to be more useful than T-TEGs with 1D/2D struc-
ture. Nonetheless, the studies on 3D T-TEGs made up of TE yarns/fila-
ments/fibers are very few and the device performance is much lower
than that of thin film-based TEGs. The effects such as the device struc-
ture resulted from different textile techniques and the size of TE legs on
the device performance of T-TEGs should be further explored.
In short, T-TEGs have presented promising applications in smart wear-
able electronics but the investigations are still at the initial stage. We hope
this review can draw more and more researchers to devote to this field,
thereby promoting the development and practical applications of T-TEGs.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the financial support from the Fundamental Research Funds
for the Central Universities (2232019A3-05 and 2232019D3-11), the National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (No.51603036), Young Elite Scientists Sponsor-
ship Program by CAST (2017QNRC001), Shanghai Sailing Program
(19YF1400700), and DHU Distinguished Young Professor Program.
77 © 2019 Zhengzhou University

Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Keywords
architecture, passive sensing, peltier cooling, textile, thermoelectric generator
Received: April 25, 2019
Revised: May 22, 2019
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