All-Organic Textile Thermoelectrics with Carbon-Nanotube-Coated n-Type Yarns

• Thermoelectric textiles that are able to generate electricity from heat gradients may find use as power sources for a wide range of miniature wearable electronics. To realize such thermoelectric textiles, both p- and n-type yarns are needed. The realization of air-stable and flexible n-type yarns, i.e., conducting yarns where electrons are the majority charge carriers, presents a considerable challenge due to the scarcity of air-stable n-doped organic materials. Here, we realize such n-type yarns by coating commercial sewing threads with a nanocomposite of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP). Our n-type yarns have a bulk conductivity of 1 S cm -1 and a Seebeck coefficient of -14 μV K -1 , which is stable for several months at ambient conditions. We combine our coated n-type yarns with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) dyed silk yarns, constituting the p-type component, to realize a textile thermoelectric module with 38 n/p elements, which are capable of producing an open-circuit voltage of 143 mV when exposed to a temperature gradient of 116 °C and a maximum power output of 7.1 nW at a temperature gradient of 80 °C.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Bearbetnings-, yt- och fogningsteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Manufacturing, Surface and Joining Technology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Materialkemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Materials Chemistry (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Den kondenserade materiens fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Condensed Matter Physics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Textil-, gummi- och polymermaterial (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Textile, Rubber and Polymeric Materials (hsv//eng)

Keyword

n-type conducting yarn

organic thermoelectrics

carbon nanotubes

electronic textile

polymer nanocomposite

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)