Seki Y, Nagata K, Takashiri M. Facile preparation of air-stable n-type thermoelectric single-wall carbon nanotube films with anionic surfactants.
Sci Rep 2020;
10:8104. [PMID:
32415103 PMCID:
PMC7228955 DOI:
10.1038/s41598-020-64959-5]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Thermoelectric generators based on single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have great potential for use in wearable and skin electronics because of their lightweight and mechanically soft structure. However, the fabrication of air-stable n-type thermoelectric SWCNTs using conventional processes is challenging. Herein, we propose a facile process for fabricating air-stable n-type SWCNT films with anionic surfactants via drop casting followed by heat treatment. We examined different surfactants (Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate, Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate, and Sodium Cholate) and heat-treatment temperatures. The optimal SWCNT film maintained the n-type Seebeck coefficient for 35 days. Moreover, to further extend the n-type Seebeck coefficient maintenance, we periodically reheated the SWCNT film with a surfactant that had returned to the p-type Seebeck coefficient. The reheated film recovered the n-type Seebeck coefficient, and the effect of the reheating treatment lasted for several reheating cycles. Finally, we elucidated a simple mechanism for realizing an air-stable n-type Seebeck coefficient based on spectroscopic analyses of the SWCNT films.
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