Liu, S., Li, H., Wang, H., Kong, J., Koh, J. J., & He, C. (2025). High Thermoelectric Performance Carbon Nanotube/Polycaprolactone Composites for Sustainable Energy Harvesting. Small, 21(44). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202506983
Abstract:
Harvesting electricity with high-performance biodegradable thermoelectric (TE) composites is a sustainable and promising approach that addresses the environmental concerns brought from the conventional thermoelectric devices. In this work, a TE composite based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) is reported and biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) with significantly improved TE performance, achieving a significant improved power factor of 439 µW m−1 K−2 at 90 wt.% SWCNT loading. The good surface compatibility and interfacial interaction between PCL and SWCNT are conducive to the formation of abundant PCL-SWCNT junctions, enabling an efficient energy filtering effect that significantly enhances the Seebeck coefficient to 40.8 µV K−1 at SWCNT content of 90 wt.%. Meanwhile, minimal charge tunneling hindrance is allowed to across thin PCL layers, thereby maintaining a high electrical conductivity of 2635 S cm−1. Subsequently, a flexible TE device assembled from the SWCNT/PCL composite films exhibits a power density of 1.50 W m−2 at a temperature difference of 30.8 K, demonstrating great potential for high-performance and sustainable thermoelectric energy harvesting.
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Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - A*STAR Manufacturing, Trade, and Connectivity Individual Research Grants
Grant Reference no. : M23M6c0107
This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Manufacturing, Trade, and Connectivity Young Individual Research Grants
Grant Reference no. : M22K3c0101
Description:
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Liu, S., Li, H., Wang, H., Kong, J., Koh, J. J., & He, C. (2025). High Thermoelectric Performance Carbon Nanotube/Polycaprolactone Composites for Sustainable Energy Harvesting. Small, 21(44). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202506983
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