Inherent rigidity of high‐performing inorganic thermoelectric materials constrains their potential applications as flexible power sources for the wearable electronics. Deformation within the elastic region ensures the reservation of a material's initial functionalities, motivating the current work to focus on the elasticity enhancement of Ag2Te thermoelectric. Ag2S‐alloying results in an observable reduction in the modulus of Ag2Te1‐xSx alloys (x ≤ 0.3), which thereby enables not only a great increase in the elastic strain but also a significant plasticization of the alloys, allowing the plastic deformability by the rolling at a temperature of ≈120 °C. Such a plastic deformation‐induced improvement in yield strength leads to a further improvement of the elastic strain up to 1.8%, corresponding to ≈200% enhancements as compared to pristine Ag2Te (≈0.6%). Eventually, the multi‐pass hot‐rolled Ag2Te0.9S0.1 film achieves a full recoverability in transport properties even after elastic bending within a tiny radius of ≈3 mm for 100 000 times and a power density as high as ≈25 W m−2 in six‐leg device. This work robustly demonstrates a universal strategy to advance the recoverable bendability of inorganic thermoelectric materials for flexible applications.

中文翻译：

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通过弹性应变操纵增强基于 Ag2Te 的热电器件的可恢复弯曲性


高性能无机热电材料的固有刚度限制了它们作为可穿戴电子设备柔性电源的潜在应用。弹性区域内的变形确保了材料初始功能的保留，从而促使当前工作专注于增强 Ag2Te 热电的弹性。Ag2S 合金化导致 Ag2Te1-xSx 合金的模量明显降低 （x ≤ 0.3），因此不仅能够大大增加弹性应变，而且可以显着塑化合金，从而允许在 ≈120 °C 的温度下轧制时发生塑性变形。 这种塑性变形引起的屈服强度提高导致弹性应变进一步提高，最高可达 1.8%，与原始 Ag2Te （≈0.6%） 相比，提高了 ≈200%。最终，多通道热轧 Ag2Te0.9S0.1 薄膜即使在 ≈3 mm 的微小半径内弹性弯曲 100 000 次后也能实现完全的传输性能可恢复性，功率密度高达 ≈25 W m-2 在六脚器件中。这项工作有力地展示了一种通用策略，可以提高无机热电材料的可恢复弯曲性，以实现柔性应用。