Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) Composites

Abstract Composites of polyaniline (PANI) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are widely studied for thermoelectric applications. In this work, acrylonitrile (AN) is incorporated into the backbone of aniline (ANI) to form a poly(ANI‐co‐AN) copolymer, which is in situ wrapped around the single‐walled carbon...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fuat Erden, Ilhan Danaci, Salih Ozbay
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley-VCH 2025-08-01
Series:Advanced Electronic Materials
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500026
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849397339351941120
author Fuat Erden
Ilhan Danaci
Salih Ozbay
author_facet Fuat Erden
Ilhan Danaci
Salih Ozbay
author_sort Fuat Erden
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Composites of polyaniline (PANI) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are widely studied for thermoelectric applications. In this work, acrylonitrile (AN) is incorporated into the backbone of aniline (ANI) to form a poly(ANI‐co‐AN) copolymer, which is in situ wrapped around the single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to enhance the thermoelectric performance. The idea is to address the well‐known inverse relationship between the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity through the carrier concentration, by using the insulating nature of AN to better control the charge transport properties. The results show that the carrier concentration is reduced without deteriorating the carrier mobility in the 70% SWNT/30% poly(90ANI‐co‐10AN) composites as compared to pristine SWNT/PANI. Consequently, the highest power factor (PF) reached in this work is 201 µWm−1K−2 for the 70% SWNT/30% poly(90ANI‐co‐10AN) composite, representing a ≈1.7‐fold improvement over SWNT/PANI composites prepared under identical conditions. Further, a flexible thermoelectric generator is fabricated using SWNT/poly(ANI‐co‐AN) composite films, demonstrating a promising output power and power density of 117 nW and 43.3 µWcm−2, respectively, at a temperature difference of 30 K. These findings suggest that wrapping CNTs with copolymers comprising monomers of both conducting and insulating polymers can be a promising strategy to enhance the thermoelectric properties.
format Article
id doaj-art-0df820ae1dfb4f8699cb8320abf4884a
institution Kabale University
issn 2199-160X
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Wiley-VCH
record_format Article
series Advanced Electronic Materials
spelling doaj-art-0df820ae1dfb4f8699cb8320abf4884a2025-08-20T03:39:04ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Electronic Materials2199-160X2025-08-011112n/an/a10.1002/aelm.202500026Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) CompositesFuat Erden0Ilhan Danaci1Salih Ozbay2Department of Aeronautical Engineering Sivas University of Science and Technology Sivas 58000 TürkiyeDepartment of Aeronautical Engineering Sivas University of Science and Technology Sivas 58000 TürkiyeDepartment of Chemical Engineering Sivas University of Science and Technology Sivas 58000 TürkiyeAbstract Composites of polyaniline (PANI) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are widely studied for thermoelectric applications. In this work, acrylonitrile (AN) is incorporated into the backbone of aniline (ANI) to form a poly(ANI‐co‐AN) copolymer, which is in situ wrapped around the single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to enhance the thermoelectric performance. The idea is to address the well‐known inverse relationship between the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity through the carrier concentration, by using the insulating nature of AN to better control the charge transport properties. The results show that the carrier concentration is reduced without deteriorating the carrier mobility in the 70% SWNT/30% poly(90ANI‐co‐10AN) composites as compared to pristine SWNT/PANI. Consequently, the highest power factor (PF) reached in this work is 201 µWm−1K−2 for the 70% SWNT/30% poly(90ANI‐co‐10AN) composite, representing a ≈1.7‐fold improvement over SWNT/PANI composites prepared under identical conditions. Further, a flexible thermoelectric generator is fabricated using SWNT/poly(ANI‐co‐AN) composite films, demonstrating a promising output power and power density of 117 nW and 43.3 µWcm−2, respectively, at a temperature difference of 30 K. These findings suggest that wrapping CNTs with copolymers comprising monomers of both conducting and insulating polymers can be a promising strategy to enhance the thermoelectric properties.https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500026acrylonitrileanilinecarbon nanotubecopolymerthermoelectric
spellingShingle Fuat Erden
Ilhan Danaci
Salih Ozbay
Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) Composites
Advanced Electronic Materials
acrylonitrile
aniline
carbon nanotube
copolymer
thermoelectric
title Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) Composites
title_full Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) Composites
title_fullStr Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) Composites
title_full_unstemmed Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) Composites
title_short Flexible Thermoelectric Generators Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Poly(aniline‐co‐acrylonitrile) Composites
title_sort flexible thermoelectric generators based on single walled carbon nanotube poly aniline co acrylonitrile composites
topic acrylonitrile
aniline
carbon nanotube
copolymer
thermoelectric
url https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500026
work_keys_str_mv AT fuaterden flexiblethermoelectricgeneratorsbasedonsinglewalledcarbonnanotubepolyanilinecoacrylonitrilecomposites
AT ilhandanaci flexiblethermoelectricgeneratorsbasedonsinglewalledcarbonnanotubepolyanilinecoacrylonitrilecomposites
AT salihozbay flexiblethermoelectricgeneratorsbasedonsinglewalledcarbonnanotubepolyanilinecoacrylonitrilecomposites