Flexible and Robust Thermoelectric Generators Based on All-Carbon Nanotube Yarn without Metal Electrodes

Jaeyoo Choi, Yeonsu Jung, Seung Jae Yang, Jun Young Oh, Jinwoo Oh, Kiyoung Jo, Jeong Gon Son, Seung Eon Moon, Chong Rae Park, Heesuk Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

202 Scopus citations

Abstract

As practical interest in flexible/or wearable power-conversion devices increases, the demand for high-performance alternatives to thermoelectric (TE) generators based on brittle inorganic materials is growing. Herein, we propose a flexible and ultralight TE generator (TEG) based on carbon nanotube yarn (CNTY) with excellent TE performance. The as-prepared CNTY shows a superior electrical conductivity of 3147 S/cm due to increased longitudinal carrier mobility derived from a highly aligned structure. Our TEG is innovative in that the CNTY acts as multifunctions in the same device. The CNTY is alternatively doped into n- and p-types using polyethylenimine and FeCl3, respectively. The highly conductive CNTY between the doped regions is used as electrodes to minimize the circuit resistance, thereby forming an all-carbon TEG without additional metal deposition. A flexible TEG based on 60 pairs of n- and p-doped CNTY shows the maximum power density of 10.85 and 697 μW/g at temperature differences of 5 and 40 K, respectively, which are the highest values among reported TEGs based on flexible materials. We believe that the strategy proposed here to improve the power density of flexible TEG by introducing highly aligned CNTY and designing a device without metal electrodes shows great potential for the flexible/or wearable power-conversion devices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7608-7614
Number of pages7
JournalACS Nano
Volume11
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Aug 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.

Keywords

  • carbon nanotube yarn
  • energy conversion
  • flexible materials
  • robust module
  • thermoelectric properties

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