Issue 10, 2017

Large n- and p-type thermoelectric power factors from doped semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube thin films

Abstract

Lightweight, robust, and flexible single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) materials can be processed inexpensively using solution-based techniques, similar to other organic semiconductors. In contrast to many semiconducting polymers, semiconducting SWCNTs (s-SWCNTs) represent unique one-dimensional organic semiconductors with chemical and physical properties that facilitate equivalent transport of electrons and holes. These factors have driven increasing attention to employing s-SWCNTs for electronic and energy harvesting applications, including thermoelectric (TE) generators. Here we demonstrate a combination of ink chemistry, solid-state polymer removal, and charge-transfer doping strategies that enable unprecedented n-type and p-type TE power factors, in the range of 700 μW m−1 K−2 at 298 K for the same solution-processed highly enriched thin films containing 100% s-SWCNTs. We also demonstrate that the thermal conductivity appears to decrease with decreasing s-SWCNT diameter, leading to a peak material zT ≈ 0.12 for s-SWCNTs with diameters in the range of 1.0 nm. Our results indicate that the TE performance of s-SWCNT-only material systems is approaching that of traditional inorganic semiconductors, paving the way for these materials to be used as the primary components for efficient, all-organic TE generators.

Graphical abstract: Large n- and p-type thermoelectric power factors from doped semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube thin films

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 এপ্রিল 2017
Accepted
31 আগষ্ট 2017
First published
08 চেপ্টে 2017

Energy Environ. Sci., 2017,10, 2168-2179

Large n- and p-type thermoelectric power factors from doped semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube thin films

B. A. MacLeod, N. J. Stanton, I. E. Gould, D. Wesenberg, R. Ihly, Z. R. Owczarczyk, K. E. Hurst, C. S. Fewox, C. N. Folmar, K. Holman Hughes, B. L. Zink, J. L. Blackburn and A. J. Ferguson, Energy Environ. Sci., 2017, 10, 2168 DOI: 10.1039/C7EE01130J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements