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We examine the electrodeposition of antimony (Sb), tellurium (Te) and their alloys from molten mixtures of acetamide - antimony chloride and tellurium chloride. The binary mixtures of acetamide with SbCl3 and TeCl 4 exhibit eutectic formation with large depressions of freezing points to below room temperature. At temperatures up to 100 °C, these mixtures are highly conductive and can be used to deposit elementary Sb and Te films at current density up to 7 A dm-2. Antimony telluride alloy films with composition between 20 and 81 at.% Te are obtained from ternary mixtures containing up to 0.48MSbCl3 and up to 0.12MTeCl4. Composition of the antimony telluride films can be controlled by adjusting bath composition and current density. cop. 2012 The Electrochemical Society.

Integration of thermopiles in garments has been performed in this work in different ways. It is shown that textile has a minor effect on power generation, which enables completely hidden and unobtrusive energy harvester. A one-milliwatt thermoelectric generator is then integrated between two layers of a shirt and its characteristics are reported. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Ethylene glycol was studied as an electrolyte for the electrodeposition of thermoelectric bismuth telluride films by cyclic voltammetry, rotating ring disk electrode and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). The reduction of both Bi3+ and Te4+ ions proceeds in one step without the formation of intermediates at potentials more negative than +0.2 V and +0.55 V vs. SHE, respectively. The diffusion coefficients and the rate constants for reduction were found to be similar for Bi and Te. Stoichiometric Bi2Te3 films with a uniform composition profile were obtained from solutions containing up to 1 M of Bi(NO3)3 and TeCl4, at current densities up to 5 A dm-2 (∼102 μm h-1). Both p- and n-type bismuth telluride films could be obtained, as confirmed by Seebeck coefficient measurements. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of the seed layer on Seebeck coefficient measurement of electroplated thermoelectric films was quantitatively analyzed. It is found that sheet, rather than bulk resistance of the seed layer, or more precisely its relative comparison to sheet resistance of the film, determines the effects. The analysis reveals that the seed layer's effect can be neglected (within 1% error) only if the sheet resistance ratio [R\2(film)/R1(seed)] is smaller than 0.01. This condition commonly requires film thicknesses of 100 μm or more, which is not practically relevant. Based on the analysis we proposed a new method that is applicable for 10 times thinner films. This approach for determining Seebeck coefficient is simple, and more importantly, electroplated films can be characterized in their statu nascendi. Finite element simulation and experiments verified the analysis. Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011.

The rapid evolution of electronic devices since the beginning of the nanoelectronics era has brought about exceptional computational power in an ever shrinking system footprint. This has enabled among others the wealth of nomadic battery powered wireless systems (smart phones, mp3 players, GPS, …) that society currently enjoys. Emerging integration technologies enabling even smaller volumes and the associated increased functional density may bring about a new revolution in systems targeting wearable healthcare, wellness, lifestyle and industrial monitoring applications.