Thermoelectric properties of porous multi-walled carbon nanotube/polyaniline core/shell nanocomposites. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Porous polyaniline (PANI)-coated multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) core/shell nanohybrids were fabricated through in situ polymerization and subsequently assembled into macroscopic composites. N(2) adsorption/desorption analysis indicated that the volume of nanopores increased significantly, which could make a significant contribution to phonon scattering. Thermal annealing was also carried out to improve the Seebeck coefficient of the as-produced nanocomposites. The optimal sample showed electrical conductivity of 14.1 S cm(-1), a Seebeck coefficient of 79.8 V K(-1) and thermal conductivity of 0.27 W mK(-1), resulting in a highest figure of merit (ZT) of 0.01 at a very low loading of MWNTs (<1 wt%). These results will provide a potential direction to enhance thermoelectric performance of organic materials and also facilitate the application of organic materials in thermal energy harvesting or cooling.

published proceedings

  • Nanotechnology

author list (cited authors)

  • Zhang, K., Davis, M., Qiu, J., Hope-Weeks, L., & Wang, S.

citation count

  • 72

complete list of authors

  • Zhang, Kun||Davis, Marauo||Qiu, Jingjing||Hope-Weeks, Louisa||Wang, Shiren

publication date

  • September 2012