(Invited) Large Low Temperature Thermoelectric Power Factor from Nanostructured Carbon-Based Nanocoatings Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • In an effort to create a paintable/printable thermoelectric materials, comprised exclusively of organic components, polyaniline (PANi), graphene, and double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNT) were alternately deposited from aqueous solutions using the layer-by-layer assembly technique. Graphene and DWNT are stabilized with an intrinsically conductive polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). A 1 m thick film, composed of 80 PANi/graphene-PEDOT:PSS/PANi/DWNT-PEDOT:PSS quadlayers (QL) exhibits electrical conductivity () of 1.88 X 105 S/m and a Seebeck coefficient (S) of 120 V/K, producing a thermoelectric power factor (S 2) of 2710 W/(mK2). This is the highest value ever reported for a completely organic material measured at room temperature. Furthermore, this performance matches or exceeds that of commercial bismuth telluride. Air-stable n-type organic thermoelectric nanocomposites were achieved by depositing layers of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNT), stabilized with polyethylenimine (PEI), and graphene oxide (GO) in a layer-by-layer fashion from aqueous solutions. A 30 bilayer film (~ 610 nm thick), comprised of this DWNT-PEI/GO sequence, exhibits electrical conductivity of 27.3 S/cm and Seebeck coefficient of -30 V/K, producing a power factor of 2.5 W/(mK2). Low temperature thermal reduction (150 C for 30 min) of this composite thin film significantly improves its thermoelectric performance. An electrical conductivity of 460 S/cm and Seebeck coefficient of -93 V/K are achieved. A 30 BL DWNT-PEI/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) film (~480 nm thick) exhibits a power factor as large as 400 W/(mK2), which is one of the highest values reported for an organic n-type material. The combination of water-based processing, air stability and high power factor is a major step toward producing efficient thermoelectric devices on flexible substrates (e.g. textiles for clothing). For the first time, there is a real opportunity to harness waste heat from unconventional sources, such as body heat to power devices in an environmentally-benign way. Figure 1

published proceedings

  • ECS Meeting Abstracts

author list (cited authors)

  • Grunlan, J.

complete list of authors

  • Grunlan, Jaime

publication date

  • May 2019