Advanced Thermoelectric Materials for Flexible Cooling Application

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 flexible 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.