US 12,382,832 B2
Thermoelectric piezoelectric generator
David L. Carroll, Winston-Salem, NC (US); and David Montgomery, Winston-Salem, NC (US)
Appl. No. 16/083,122
Filed by Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 9, 2017, PCT No. PCT/US2017/021613
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 7, 2018,
PCT Pub. No. WO2017/156296, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 14, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/305,852, filed on Mar. 9, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2019/0103539 A1, Apr. 4, 2019
Int. Cl. H10N 10/17 (2023.01); H10N 30/30 (2023.01)
CPC H10N 10/17 (2023.02) [H10N 30/30 (2023.02)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An electric generator comprising:
a thermoelectric film having a plurality of lateral p-n junctions across a face of the film, the lateral p-n junctions established at interfaces between p-type regions and n-type regions;
a piezoelectric film coupled to the thermoelectric film; and
an electrode coupled to the piezoelectric film
wherein the p-type regions comprise electrically conductive particles dispersed in or on a first carrier and the n-type regions comprise electrically conductive particles dispersed in or on a second carrier and
wherein the thermoelectric film is folded at the p-n junctions to form a corrugated structure.