Thickness-dependent thermoelectric power factor of polymer-functionalized semiconducting carbon nanotube thin films

ABSTRACT

The effects of polymer structures on the thermoelectric properties of polymer-wrapped semiconducting carbon nanotubes have yet to be clarified for elucidating intrinsic transport properties. We systematically investigate thickness dependence of thermoelectric transport in thin films containing networks of conjugated polymer-wrapped semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Well-controlled doping experiments suggest that the doping homogeneity and then in-plane electrical conductivity significantly depend on film thickness and polymer species. This understanding leads to achieving thermoelectric power factors as high as 412 μW m⁻¹ K⁻² in thin carbon nanotube films. This work presents a standard platform for investigating the thermoelectric properties of nanotubes.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Thermoelectric transport
• carbon nanotubes
• conjugated polymers
• morphology
• spectroscopy
• plasmon resonance
• doping

CLASSIFICATION:

• 50 Energy Materials
• 104 Carbon and related materials
• 105 Low-Dimension (1D/2D) materials
• 210 Thermoelectronics / Thermal transport / insulators
• 505 Optical / Molecular spectroscopy

Acknowledgments

We thank financial support from JST PRESTO grant number JPMJPR16R6. This work made use of NAIST common facilities supported by MEXT Nanotechnology Platform program. Prof. Leigh McDowell is acknowledged for his careful English proofreading.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

We thank financial support from JST PRESTO grant number JPMJPR16R6.