High-performance and compact-designed flexible thermoelectric modules enabled by a reticulate carbon nanotube architecture

Wenbin Zhou, Qingxia Fan, Qiang Zhang, Le Cai, Kewei Li, Xiaogang Gu, Feng Yang, Nan Zhang, Yanchun Wang, Huaping Liu, Weiya Zhou () and Sishen Xie ()
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Wenbin Zhou: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qingxia Fan: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qiang Zhang: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Le Cai: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Kewei Li: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaogang Gu: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Feng Yang: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nan Zhang: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yanchun Wang: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Huaping Liu: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Weiya Zhou: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sishen Xie: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract It is a great challenge to substantially improve the practical performance of flexible thermoelectric modules due to the absence of air-stable n-type thermoelectric materials with high-power factor. Here an excellent flexible n-type thermoelectric film is developed, which can be conveniently and rapidly prepared based on the as-grown carbon nanotube continuous networks with high conductivity. The optimum n-type film exhibits ultrahigh power factor of ∼1,500 μW m−1 K−2 and outstanding stability in air without encapsulation. Inspired by the findings, we design and successfully fabricate the compact-configuration flexible TE modules, which own great advantages compared with the conventional π-type configuration modules and well integrate the superior thermoelectric properties of p-type and n-type carbon nanotube films resulting in a markedly high performance. Moreover, the research results are highly scalable and also open opportunities for the large-scale production of flexible thermoelectric modules.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14886

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