Review of wearable thermoelectric energy harvesting: From body temperature to electronic systems

Abstract Global demand for battery-free metrics and health monitoring devices has urged leading research agencies and their subordinate centers to set human energy harvesting and self-powered wearable technologies as one of their primary research objectives. After an overview of wearables market trends, different active and passive methods of body energy harvesting for powering low-consumption electronic devices are introduced, and challenges of device fabrication are discussed. The discussion continues with the primary emphasis on thermoelectric generators for body heat harvesting. The physiological aspects of the human body involved in heat generation are elaborated. System requirements and the influence of different parameters on the performance of thermoelectric generators are studied at the material, device, and system levels. Finally, the advancements in the development of rigid and flexible thermoelectric generators for wearable and textile integration are presented.