Non-reciprocal heat transfer advances flexible thermoelectric devices

Physics > Applied Physics [Submitted on 30 Jun 2026] Title:Non-reciprocal heat transfer advances flexible thermoelectric devices View PDFAbstract:Complex heat dissipation assemblies, inferior performance, and limited flexibility are the primary constraints impeding the wide application and commercialization of conventional flexible thermoelectric devices in wearable electronics and other high-end cooling scenarios. In this work, we report a non-conventional design for flexible thermoelectric devices which can reduce the temperature to -7.03 at room temperature without external heat sink, achieving a cooling temperature drop of 29.25. The design is based on non-reciprocal heat transfer, integrated with thermally conductive composites and screen-printing technologies. This approach takes advantage of directional heat flow, thereby eliminating the need for complex heat sink networks, which extend the applications of flexible thermoelectric devices from personal thermal management to more broader fields such as home healthcare and emergency first aid. Current browse context: physics.app-ph Change to browse by: References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.