Thermoelectric properties of carbon nanotube and nanofiber based ethylene-octene copolymer composites for thermoelectric devices

Abstract

Polymer composites have been created from multiwalled carbon nanotubes or carbon nanofibers and ethylene-octene copolymer. The composites have thermoelectric properties and exhibit thermoelectric effect, that is, the conversion of temperature differences into electricity. The thermoelectric efficiency of created composites with nanotube or nanofiber concentration of 30 wt% evaluated by a thermoelectric power at room temperature is 13.3 V/K and 14.2 V/K, respectively. The flexible thermoelectric device (thermopile) was constructed with three different composite legs to produce electric current and the output voltage was measured in the range of temperature difference from -15 to 25°C. © 2013 P. Slobodian et al.