A Self-Powered Temperature Sensor Based on Silver Telluride Nanowires

Thermoelectric devices are effective in harvesting energy from waste heat with a temperature difference relative to the environment, which can be applied in vehicles, aircrafts, and power plants. In our research, we developed a thin, light-weight, and flexible thermoelectric nanogenerator based on the nanocomposite of silver telluride (Ag2Te) nanowires and poly(3,4ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The Seebeck coefficient of the nanocomposite was determined to be 100 μV/K. A linear relationship between the output voltage and the temperature difference across the thermoelectric nanogenerator was observed. Not only for the purpose of energy harvesting, the thermoelectric nanogenerator can also function as a self-powered sensor for water temperature measurement.