High Thermoelectric Power Factor Organic Thin Films through Combination of Nanotube Multilayer Assembly and Electrochemical Polymerization.
Mario CulebrasChungyeon ChoMichelle KreckerRyan SmithYixuan SongClara M GómezAndrés CantareroJaime C GrunlanPublished in: ACS applied materials & interfaces (2017)
In an effort to produce effective thermoelectric nanocomposites with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), layer-by-layer assembly was combined with electrochemical polymerization to create synergy that would produce a high power factor. Nanolayers of MWCNT stabilized with poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) or sodium deoxycholate were alternately deposited from water. Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) [PEDOT] was then synthesized electrochemically by using this MWCNT-based multilayer thin film as the working electrode. Microscopic images show a homogeneous distribution of PEDOT around the MWCNT. The electrical resistance, conductivity (σ) and Seebeck coefficient (S) were measured before and after the PEDOT polymerization. A 30 bilayer MWCNT film (<1 μm thick) infused with PEDOT is shown to achieve a power factor (PF = S2σ) of 155 μW/m K2, which is the highest value ever reported for a completely organic MWCNT-based material and competitive with lead telluride at room temperature. The ability of this MWCNT-PEDOT film to generate power was demonstrated with a cylindrical thermoelectric generator that produced 5.5 μW with a 30 K temperature differential. This unique nanocomposite, prepared from water with relatively inexpensive ingredients, should open up new opportunities to recycle waste heat in portable/wearable electronics and other applications where low weight and mechanical flexibility are needed.
Keyphrases
- room temperature
- carbon nanotubes
- ionic liquid
- reduced graphene oxide
- gold nanoparticles
- perovskite solar cells
- body mass index
- computed tomography
- heart rate
- risk assessment
- magnetic resonance
- optical coherence tomography
- convolutional neural network
- molecularly imprinted
- label free
- diffusion weighted imaging
- oxide nanoparticles