Increasing the thermoelectric power generated by composite films using chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes

Mingxing Piao; Junhong Na; Jaewan Choi; Jaesung Kim; Gary P. Kennedy; Gyutae Kim; Siegmar Roth; Urszula Dettlaff-Weglikowska

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2013.06.028

Increasing the thermoelectric power generated by composite films using chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes

Mingxing Piao, Junhong Na, Jaewan Choi, Jaesung Kim, Gary P. Kennedy, Gyutae Kim, Siegmar Roth, Urszula Dettlaff-Weglikowska

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

51 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We prepared and characterized flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials based on thin films of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composites with polyvinylalcohol. While pristine SWCNTs incorporated in a polymer matrix generated a p-type TE material, chemical functionalization of SWCNTs by using polyethyleneimine produced an n-type TE material. TE modules made of both p- and n-type composite were fabricated to demonstrate TE voltage and power generation. A single p-n junction made of two composite strips containing 20 wt.% of SWCNTs generated a high TE voltage of 92 μV per 1 K temperature gradient (ΔT). By combining five electrically connected p-n junctions an output voltage of 25 mV was obtained upon the applying ΔT = 50 K. Furthermore, this module generated a power of 4.5 nW when a load resistance matched the internal module resistance of 30 kΩ. These promising results show the potential of TE energy conversion provided by the SWCNT composite films connected in scalable modules for applications that require light weight and mechanical flexibility.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	430-437
Number of pages	8
Journal	Carbon
Volume	62
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2013.06.028
Publication status	Published - 2013 Oct

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry(all)
Materials Science(all)

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10.1016/j.carbon.2013.06.028

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@article{949d9f748e784440b463148baf3bab96,

title = "Increasing the thermoelectric power generated by composite films using chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes",

abstract = "We prepared and characterized flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials based on thin films of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composites with polyvinylalcohol. While pristine SWCNTs incorporated in a polymer matrix generated a p-type TE material, chemical functionalization of SWCNTs by using polyethyleneimine produced an n-type TE material. TE modules made of both p- and n-type composite were fabricated to demonstrate TE voltage and power generation. A single p-n junction made of two composite strips containing 20 wt.% of SWCNTs generated a high TE voltage of 92 μV per 1 K temperature gradient (ΔT). By combining five electrically connected p-n junctions an output voltage of 25 mV was obtained upon the applying ΔT = 50 K. Furthermore, this module generated a power of 4.5 nW when a load resistance matched the internal module resistance of 30 kΩ. These promising results show the potential of TE energy conversion provided by the SWCNT composite films connected in scalable modules for applications that require light weight and mechanical flexibility.",

author = "Mingxing Piao and Junhong Na and Jaewan Choi and Jaesung Kim and Kennedy, {Gary P.} and Gyutae Kim and Siegmar Roth and Urszula Dettlaff-Weglikowska",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by World Class University Project (WCU, R32-2008-000-10082-0) and by Global Frontier Research Program (2011-0031638) through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.",

year = "2013",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1016/j.carbon.2013.06.028",

language = "English",

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T1 - Increasing the thermoelectric power generated by composite films using chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes

AU - Piao, Mingxing

AU - Na, Junhong

AU - Choi, Jaewan

AU - Kim, Jaesung

AU - Kennedy, Gary P.

AU - Kim, Gyutae

AU - Roth, Siegmar

AU - Dettlaff-Weglikowska, Urszula

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by World Class University Project (WCU, R32-2008-000-10082-0) and by Global Frontier Research Program (2011-0031638) through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

PY - 2013/10

Y1 - 2013/10

N2 - We prepared and characterized flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials based on thin films of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composites with polyvinylalcohol. While pristine SWCNTs incorporated in a polymer matrix generated a p-type TE material, chemical functionalization of SWCNTs by using polyethyleneimine produced an n-type TE material. TE modules made of both p- and n-type composite were fabricated to demonstrate TE voltage and power generation. A single p-n junction made of two composite strips containing 20 wt.% of SWCNTs generated a high TE voltage of 92 μV per 1 K temperature gradient (ΔT). By combining five electrically connected p-n junctions an output voltage of 25 mV was obtained upon the applying ΔT = 50 K. Furthermore, this module generated a power of 4.5 nW when a load resistance matched the internal module resistance of 30 kΩ. These promising results show the potential of TE energy conversion provided by the SWCNT composite films connected in scalable modules for applications that require light weight and mechanical flexibility.

AB - We prepared and characterized flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials based on thin films of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composites with polyvinylalcohol. While pristine SWCNTs incorporated in a polymer matrix generated a p-type TE material, chemical functionalization of SWCNTs by using polyethyleneimine produced an n-type TE material. TE modules made of both p- and n-type composite were fabricated to demonstrate TE voltage and power generation. A single p-n junction made of two composite strips containing 20 wt.% of SWCNTs generated a high TE voltage of 92 μV per 1 K temperature gradient (ΔT). By combining five electrically connected p-n junctions an output voltage of 25 mV was obtained upon the applying ΔT = 50 K. Furthermore, this module generated a power of 4.5 nW when a load resistance matched the internal module resistance of 30 kΩ. These promising results show the potential of TE energy conversion provided by the SWCNT composite films connected in scalable modules for applications that require light weight and mechanical flexibility.

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DO - 10.1016/j.carbon.2013.06.028

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84880255584

SN - 0008-6223

VL - 62

SP - 430

EP - 437

JO - Carbon

JF - Carbon

ER -

Increasing the thermoelectric power generated by composite films using chemically functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

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