A hierarchically modified fibre-reinforced polymer composite laminate with graphene nanotube coatings operating as an efficient thermoelectric generator (original) (raw)
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Thermoelectric energy harvesting is one of the keystones of modern green renewable energy generation. Unfortunately, most conventional state-of-the-art inorganic semiconductor thermoelectric generators are expensive, fragile, and not flexible. Considering these limitations, we developed a flexible printable thermoelectric generator (TEG) with both n-type and p-type organic composites of reduced graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, poly(3,4ethylenedixoythiphene)-polystyrene sulfate, and lead sulfide composite materials. We constructed a TEG of ten alternating n-p pairs as a prototype with an effective area of 1.4 cm 2 each, which generated 13 mV thermovoltage at operating temperature difference of 77°C. It demonstrates that its fabrication is scalable, printable, and relatively simple, and the resultant structure is flexible, conformal, and reconfigurable.
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Moving the fabrication of electronics from the conventional 2D orientation to 3D space, necessitates the use of sophisticated additive manufacturing processes which are capable to deliver multifunctional materials and devices with exceptional spatial resolution. In this study, it is reported the nozzle-guided 3D-printing of highly conductive, epoxy-dispersed, single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) architectures with embedded thermoelectric (TE) properties, capable to exploit significant waste thermal energy from the environment. In order to achieve high-resolution and continuous printing with the SWCNTbased paste through a confined nozzle geometry, i.e. without agglomeration and nozzle clogging, a homogeneous epoxy resin-dispersed SWCNT paste was produced. As a result, various 3D-printed structures with high SWCNT concentration (10 wt%) were obtained via shear-mixing processes. The 3D printed p-and n-type epoxy-dispersed SWCNT-based thermoelements exhibit high power factors of 102 and 75 mW mK À2 , respectively. The manufactured 3D carbon-based thermoelectric generator (3D-CTEG) has the ability to stably operate at temperatures up to 180 1C in ambient conditions (1 atm, relative humidity: 50 AE 5% RH), obtaining TE values of an open-circuit voltage V OC = 13.6 mV, shortcircuit current I SC = 1204 mA, internal resistance R TEG = 11.3 Ohm, and a generated power output P max = 4.1 mW at DT = 100 K (with T Cold = 70 1C). The approach and methodology described in this study aims to increase the flexibility of integration and additive manufacturing processes for advanced 3D-printed conceptual devices and the development of multifunctional materials.
Flexible polymer/multi-walled carbon nanotube composite films for thermoelectric generators
Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols, 2019
Organic and flexible thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have attracted increasing interest in energy harvesting applications. In this work, PET films were dipped into functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) incorporated the ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC) solution. Benefited from the flexible and sticky substrate of the coated layers, TE prototype composed six junctions easily connected in series with the copper connections has been fabricated to demonstrate generated voltage between hot and cold sides. Seebeck coefficient of KMnO 4 and HNO 3 treated nanotubes was 19.4 µV/K and 34.8 µV/K, respectively, while pristine legs exhibited only 12.3 µV/K. The maximum output power from the prototype was 1.82 nW upon the application of a 20 K temperature gradient with the load resistivity of 18 kΩ. It is revealed that TE properties were enhanced by simple functionalization resulting in thermoelectric power on relatively the same order as single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)/polymer composites, but using almost seven times much cheaper MWCNTs. We hope the present study provides a new path to low-grade energy required TE materials with their simple production and significant low-cost properties.
Journal of Power Sources, 2020
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An Approach toward the Realization of a Through-Thickness Glass Fiber/Epoxy Thermoelectric Generator
Materials
The present study demonstrates, for the first time, the ability of a 10-ply glass fiber-reinforced polymer composite laminate to operate as a structural through-thickness thermoelectric generator. For this purpose, inorganic tellurium nanowires were mixed with single-wall carbon nanotubes in a wet chemical approach, capable of resulting in a flexible p-type thermoelectric material with a power factor value of 58.88 μW/m·K2. This material was used to prepare an aqueous thermoelectric ink, which was then deposited onto a glass fiber substrate via a simple dip-coating process. The coated glass fiber ply was laminated as top lamina with uncoated glass fiber plies underneath to manufacture a thermoelectric composite capable of generating 54.22 nW power output at a through-thickness temperature difference οf 100 K. The mechanical properties of the proposed through-thickness thermoelectric laminate were tested and compared with those of the plain laminates. A minor reduction of approximate...
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Polymer thermoelectric (TE) composites have witnessed explosive developments in recent years, arising from their promising prospect for lightweight flexible electronics and capability of harvesting waste-heat. In sharp contrast with intrinsically conducting polymers (CPs), the insulating thermoplastics have seldom been employed as the matrices for flexible TE composites despite their advantages of low costs, controllable melt-flowing behaviors and excellent mechanical properties. Here, we report flexible films of polycarbonate/single-walled carbon nanotube (PC/SWCNT) composites with improved trade-off between TE and mechanical performances. The SWCNTs with 1D nanostructure were dramatically aligned by PC melt-flowing under hot-pressing in the radial direction. The composite maximum power factor reaches 4.8 ± 0.8 μW m−1 K−2 at 10 wt% SWCNTs in the aligned direction, which is higher than most previously reported thermoplastics-based TE composites at the same SWCNT loading and even com...
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Journal of Cleaner Production, 2018
Within the framework of recycling and reusing carbon fibre, this study focused on the fabrication of a thermoelectric composite encompassing recycled carbon fibre and two thermoelectric fillers (i) bismuth telluride and (ii) bismuth sulphide. This study investigated the effect of the concentration of bismuth telluride and bismuth sulphide fillers respectively on the thermoelectric, morphology, structural and thermal stability of the recycled carbon fibre thermoelectric composites. The optimum thermoelectric filler concentration is 45 wt% for both fillers, which resulted in a power factor of 0.194 ± 9.70×10-3 µWK-2 m-1 and 0.0941 ± 4.71×10-3 µWK-2 m-1 for recycled carbon fibre-bismuth telluride and recycled carbon fibrebismuth sulphide composites respectively. This study exhibited the energy harvesting