Self-Healing Ionic Thermoelectric Generators Using Zwitterionic Polymer Gel with Pressure-Sensitive Electrodes
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Heat generated from various sources is often lost, but thermoelectric generators (TEGs) can reclaim this waste heat due to their simple structure and operation. This study presents a fully self-healing ionic TEG using a zwitterionic (ZI) polymer gel. By adjusting the arrangement of the ZI side chain's positive and negative components, the movement of free ions in the ionogel is controlled, improving the TEGs' power factor. The ZI side chains in the ionogel provide multiple ionic interaction sites, enabling fast self-healing at room temperature. A self-healing electrode made of liquid metal (LM), waterborne polyurethane (WPU), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is also developed. Connecting 10 pairs of p and n thermoelectric gels in series through a self-healing process significantly improves the overall areal output voltage. This study's selectively ion-enhanced, fully self-healing TEGs represent a breakthrough for high-performance ionic TEGs.