Nanocomposites with p- and n-type conductivity controlled by type and content of nanotubes in thermosets for thermoelectric applications

In this work, composites based on epoxy resin and various carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were studied regarding their thermoelectric properties. The epoxy composites were prepared by infiltration of preformed CNT buckypapers. The influence of different types of CNTs on the Seebeck coefficient was investigated, namely lab-made and commercially available multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), lab-made nitrogen doped MWCNTs (N-MWCNT) and commercially available single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). It was found that only by varying the lab-made MWCNT content could both n- and p-type composites be produced with Seebeck coefficients between −9.5 and 3.1 µV/K. The incorporation of N-MWCNTs resulted in negative Seebeck coefficients of −11.4 to −17.4 µV/K. Thus, the Seebeck coefficient of pure SWCNT changed from 37.4 to −25.5 µV/K in the epoxy/1 wt. % SWCNT composite. A possible explanation for the shift in the Seebeck coefficient is the change of the CNTs Fermi level depending on the number of epoxy molecules on the CNT surface.

Subjects

epoxy

carbon nanotubes

thermoelectric

Seebeck coefficient

power factor

DDC Class

540: Chemie

620: Ingenieurwissenschaften

Funding(s)

Publikationsfonds 2020

More Funding Information

Landesforschungsförderung Hamburg (LEF-FV)

Lizenz

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Name

nanomaterials-10-01144.pdf

Size

3.46 MB

Format

Adobe PDF

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Nanocomposites with p- and n-type conductivity controlled by type and content of nanotubes in thermosets for thermoelectric applications