1 research outputs found
Polymer-Free Carbon Nanotube Thermoelectrics with Improved Charge Carrier Transport and Power Factor
Semiconducting
single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) have recently
attracted attention for their promise as active components in a variety
of optical and electronic applications, including thermoelectricity
generation. Here we demonstrate that removing the wrapping polymer
from the highly enriched s-SWCNT network leads to substantial improvements
in charge carrier transport and thermoelectric power factor. These
improvements arise primarily from an increase in charge carrier mobility
within the s-SWCNT networks because of removal of the insulating polymer
and control of the level of nanotube bundling in the network, which
enables higher thin-film conductivity for a given carrier density.
Ultimately, these studies demonstrate that highly enriched s-SWCNT
thin films, in the complete absence of any accompanying semiconducting
polymer, can attain thermoelectric power factors in the range of ∼400
μW m<sup>–1</sup> K<sup>–2</sup>, which is on par with that of some of the best single-component
organic thermoelectrics demonstrated to date