Project description
Sustainable copper sulfide generators for battery-free wearables
As more patients turn to wearable biosensors based on battery operation, there is a need to find efficient ways of supporting their functions since constant maintenance becomes problematic and poses additional problems to the environment in form of waste disposal of batteries. Supported by the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions programme, the Flex-TEGs project focuses on developing sustainable and maintenance free energy sources through the development of flexible thin film thermoelectric generators that harness energy from the body heat. The use of earth abundant, non-toxic and recyclable copper sulfide helps to address the efficiency problems associated with current organic and inorganic technologies. The integration process is expected to lower manufacturing costs by up to 90 % in comparison with conventional bismuth telluride solutions.
Objective
The global demand for wearable biosensors is rapidly increasing due to the growing need for remote-patient monitoring. A major challenge, however, is that these devices dependent on batteries, which require frequent replacement or recharging, raising challenges for usability, waste, and sustainability. The proposed research aims to address this limitation by developing flexible thin-film thermoelectric generators (FLEX-TEGs) capable of harvesting body heat to provide a continuous and maintenance-free power source for wearable biosensors.
Current research on flexible thermoelectrics has focused on either flexible organic materials with low thermoelectric efficiency or inorganic material which are efficient but scarce, toxic, and expensive. These limitations restrict large-scale adoption and neglect the recyclability of devices at end-of-life. To move beyond the state of the art, this project will explore copper sulfide (Cu2-xS, x = 0-1) thin films. This material is earth-abundant, non-toxic, low-cost, and recyclable, with promising thermoelectric properties at room temperature that remain largely unexplored in flexible form.
The project will fabricate p- and n-type copper sulfide thin films, integrate them into FLEX-TEGs, and assess their room-temperature power output and mechanical durability. Dr. Maryana Asaad brings strong expertise in thermoelectric materials and device fabrication, while Prof. Paolo Scardi and his team at the University of Trento provide internationally recognised expertise in energy materials and device engineering.
The outcomes will deliver new insights into the performance of sustainable thermoelectric thin films, establish design strategies for FLEX-TEGs, and demonstrate their suitability for powering biosensors. The impact will include cost reductions of up to 90% compared to the commercially used Bi2Te3-based devices, elimination of toxic elements, and advancement of greener, more sustainable healthcare technologies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors biosensors
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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38122 Trento
Italy
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