BACKGROUND

To harvest sustainable electricity from the environment, we aim to develop scalable, green manufacturing technologies for thermoelectric generators and solar cells. Thermoelectric generators  enable direct conversion from waste heat to electrical energy by the Seebeck effect, and solar cells are electronic devices that directly convert the energy of light into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, therefore can relieve the pressure from energy consumption and have attracted significant attention. Solar energy can also be used to convert basic chemical feedstocks such as CO2 and water into clean alternative fuels (e.g. H2) that offer greater grid stability, energy security, and environmental benefits. These energy generators based on functional materials are zero-emission and solid-state technology and can harvest renewable electricity from environments, even low-grade heat from industries. Considering their broad applications, developing high-efficiency, cost-effective, and mechanical-robust materials and their devices is of significance. At the same time, in addition to solid-state generators that target industrial use, in recent years, wearable/portable flexible generators have been developed for personal use. The converted electrical energy by these generators can be stored in environmentally-friendly batteries for carbon negativity (CO2 conversion). However,the current issues of these generators are similar, including their relatively low energy conversion efficiencies, stability, and wearability/portability. This is a main objective of this Hub and will be addressed by three approaches: (1) developing high-performing functional materials for optimizing the energy conversion efficiencies of their devices; (2) improving the stability and productivity through rational device structure designs; and (3) integrability of these energy conversion devices and the energy storage devices.