Xiao Zhang, Xiao Zhang, Dongyang Wang, Dongyang Wang, Liyao Liu, Zhiyi Li, Zhen Ji, Xuefeng Zhang, Xuefeng Zhang, Chunlin Xu, Chaoyi Yan, Mengdi Wang, Yuqiu Di, Lixin Niu, Zepang Zhan, Yue Zhao, Xiaojuan Dai, Yu Guan, Bo Guan, Cheng Li, Ye Zou, Dong Wang, Dong Wang, Fengjiao Zhang, Deqing Zhang, Daoben Zhu, Chong-an Di
Polymer thermoelectrics offer an inherently soft, cost-effective, and lightweight solution to convert ubiquitous heat sources into sustainable electricity. However, their realistic applications are hindered by insufficient performance and the scaling complexity. We introduce irregular hierarchical-porous thermoelectric polymers, featuring irregularly shaped and distributed pores with diameters that range from less than 10 nanometers to micrometers. This porous structure not only enhances multiple phonon-like scattering, achieving a 72% reduction in lattice thermal conductivity, but also unexpectedly improves charge transport through nanoconfinement-enhanced crystallization. The optimized film yields a benchmark figure-of-merit zT of 1.64 at 343 kelvin. Moreover, this method is compatible with easy-to-process spray-coating techniques.