TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermoelectric properties of carbon nanotubes
AU - Hung, Nguyen T.
AU - Ahmad Ridwan Tresna, Nugraha
AU - Saito, Riichiro
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, and JSPS KAKENHI with grant number No. JP18H01810.
Funding Information:
N.T.H. acknowledges the financial support from the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University. A.R.T.N. acknowledges computing facilities provided by Research Center for Physics and Research Center for Informatics, LIPI. R.S. acknowledges JSPS KAKENHI (Grant No. JP18H01810).
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: N.T.H. acknowledges the financial support from the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University. A.R.T.N. acknowledges computing facilities provided by Research Center for Physics and Research Center for Informatics, LIPI. R.S. acknowledges JSPS KAKENHI (Grant No. JP18H01810).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 MDPI AG. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Thermoelectric (TE) material is a class of materials that can convert heat to electrical energy directly in a solid-state-device without any moving parts and that is environmentally friendly. The study and development of TE materials have grown quickly in the past decade. However, their development goes slowly by the lack of cheap TE materials with high Seebeck coefficient and good electrical conductivity. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are particularly attractive as TE materials because of at least three reasons: (1) CNTs possess various band gaps depending on their structure, (2) CNTs represent unique one-dimensional carbon materials which naturally satisfies the conditions of quantum confinement effect to enhance the TE efficiency and (3) CNTs provide us with a platform for developing lightweight and flexible TE devices due to their mechanical properties. The TE power factor is reported to reach 700–1000 μW/mK2 for both p-type and n-type CNTs when purified to contain only doped semiconducting CNT species. Therefore, CNTs are promising for a variety of TE applications in which the heat source is unlimited, such as waste heat or solar heat although their figure of merit ZT is still modest (0.05 at 300 K). In this paper, we review in detail from the basic concept of TE field to the fundamental TE properties of CNTs, as well as their applications. Furthermore, the strategies are discussed to improve the TE properties of CNTs. Finally, we give our perspectives on the tremendous potential of CNTs-based TE materials and composites.
AB - Thermoelectric (TE) material is a class of materials that can convert heat to electrical energy directly in a solid-state-device without any moving parts and that is environmentally friendly. The study and development of TE materials have grown quickly in the past decade. However, their development goes slowly by the lack of cheap TE materials with high Seebeck coefficient and good electrical conductivity. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are particularly attractive as TE materials because of at least three reasons: (1) CNTs possess various band gaps depending on their structure, (2) CNTs represent unique one-dimensional carbon materials which naturally satisfies the conditions of quantum confinement effect to enhance the TE efficiency and (3) CNTs provide us with a platform for developing lightweight and flexible TE devices due to their mechanical properties. The TE power factor is reported to reach 700–1000 μW/mK2 for both p-type and n-type CNTs when purified to contain only doped semiconducting CNT species. Therefore, CNTs are promising for a variety of TE applications in which the heat source is unlimited, such as waste heat or solar heat although their figure of merit ZT is still modest (0.05 at 300 K). In this paper, we review in detail from the basic concept of TE field to the fundamental TE properties of CNTs, as well as their applications. Furthermore, the strategies are discussed to improve the TE properties of CNTs. Finally, we give our perspectives on the tremendous potential of CNTs-based TE materials and composites.
KW - Carbon nanotubes
KW - Low-dimensional materials
KW - Thermoelectric materials
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076183484&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.3390/en12234561
DO - 10.3390/en12234561
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85076183484
VL - 12
JO - Energies
JF - Energies
SN - 1996-1073
IS - 23
M1 - 4561
ER -