The explosive development of wearable electronic devices places new requirements on the flexibility of component materials. As one of the key energy harvesting sources for wearable electronic devices, thermoelectric (TE) generators convert waste heat into electric energy and can operate without producing any noise or requiring any external stimuli (e.g., light, or mechanical motion). However, conventional materials developed for TE possess very limited flexibility and their performances remain low towards practical applications. TE composites represent an effective way to “reshape” the properties of the pristine materials further enhancing their performances. Among various fillers for TE composites, insulating polymers are now becoming one of the promising candidates since they possess excellent flexibility and could efficiently decouple the dependence between electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity. Currently, there is a relatively limited knowledge of this new category of TE composites and lots of research progress on them have already demonstrated their potentials for practical applications. In this review, we will discuss this new type of TE composites from a unique perspective and attempt to summarize the basic properties, design rules, and the latest research progresses on them. A brief discussion on their potential applications, remaining challenges, and future prospects will also be included in the last section.

可穿戴电子设备的爆炸式发展对组件材料的柔韧性提出了新的要求。作为可穿戴电子设备的关键能量收集源之一，热电 (TE) 发电机将废热转化为电能，并且可以在不产生任何噪音或需要任何外部刺激（例如、光或机械运动）。然而，为 TE 开发的传统材料具有非常有限的灵活性，并且它们的性能在实际应用中仍然很低。TE 复合材料代表了一种有效的方式来“重塑”原始材料的特性，进一步增强其性能。在用于 TE 复合材料的各种填料中，绝缘聚合物现在正成为有希望的候选者之一，因为它们具有出色的柔韧性，并且可以有效地消除电导率之间的依赖性、塞贝克系数和热导率。目前，对这种新型 TE 复合材料的了解相对有限，并且大量的研究进展已经证明了它们的实际应用潜力。在这篇综述中，我们将从独特的角度讨论这种新型 TE 复合材料，并尝试总结它们的基本特性、设计规则和最新研究进展。最后一部分还将简要讨论它们的潜在应用、剩余挑战和未来前景。