Issue 3, 2016

Large-area, stretchable, super flexible and mechanically stable thermoelectric films of polymer/carbon nanotube composites

Abstract

Recently, due to their unique advantages over inorganic materials, organic polymer thermoelectric (TE) materials have received considerable attention. However, most studies focus on TE performance enhancement. So far, little attention has been paid to large-area preparation, stretchability, super flexibility and mechanical stability, although these are the intrinsic advantages of polymer materials. Here we report for the first time large-area, stretchable, super flexible and mechanically stable TE films of polymer/carbon nanotube composites. Mechanically stretchable films with a diameter of ∼18 cm are achieved by common vacuum filtration, whose thicknesses and sizes can be conveniently adjusted. Despite direct observations of films under various deformations of bending, rolling or twisting, quantitative measurements of minimum bending radii (<0.6 mm) further confirm the super flexibility. More importantly, after mechanical bending or stretching, no obvious deterioration of TE performance is found. Our findings represent a novel direction of polymer TE materials, and will speed up their applications.

Graphical abstract: Large-area, stretchable, super flexible and mechanically stable thermoelectric films of polymer/carbon nanotube composites

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Nov 2015
Accepted
10 Dec 2015
First published
14 Dec 2015

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016,4, 526-532

Author version available

Large-area, stretchable, super flexible and mechanically stable thermoelectric films of polymer/carbon nanotube composites

L. Liang, C. Gao, G. Chen and C. Guo, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 526 DOI: 10.1039/C5TC03768A

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