Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthesis and thermoelectric characterization of bulk-type tellurium nanowire/polymer nanocomposites

  • Composites
  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A simple method to fabricate three-dimensionally (3-D) aligned thermoelectric nanowires attached polymer particle was demonstrated by combination of solution casting of thermoelectric nanostructures (e.g., tellurium nanowires (Te NWs)) on the surface of thermoplastic polymer (e.g., poly(methyl methacrylate (PMMA)) microbeads followed by hot compaction of thermoplastic matrix. The percolation threshold of composite with 3-D assembled Te NWs (i.e., 3.45 vol%) significantly was lower than that of a randomly dispersed Te NWs (i.e., 5.26 vol%), which resulted in an order of magnitude greater thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT of 2.8 × 10−3) compared to randomly dispersed Te NWs in PMMA matrix (ZT of 6.4 × 10−4) at room temperature by enhancing the electrical conductivity without increasing thermal conductivity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Majumdar A (2004) Thermoelectricity in semiconductor nanostructures. Science 303:777–778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang B, Sun J, Katz HE, Fang F, Opila RL (2010) Promising thermoelectric properties of commercial PEDOT: PSS materials and their Bi2Te3 powder composites. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2:3170–3178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Song H, Liu C, Zhu H, Kong F, Lu B, Xu J, Wang J, Zhao F (2013) Improved thermoelectric performance of free-standing PEDOT: PSS/Bi2Te3 films with low thermal conductivity. J Electron Mater 42:1268–1274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang Q, Yao Q, Chang J, Chen L (2012) Enhanced thermoelectric properties of CNT/PANI composite nanofibers by highly orienting the arrangement of polymer chains. J Mater Chem 22:17612–17618

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Chatterjee K, Mitra M, Kargupta K, Ganguly S, Banerjee D (2013) Synthesis, characterization and enhanced thermoelectric performance of structurally ordered cable-like novel polyaniline-bismuth telluride nanocomposite. Nanotechnology 24:215703 (10 pp)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bubnova O, Crispin X (2012) Towards polymer-based organic thermoelectric generators. Energy Environ Sci 5:9345–9362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Pang H, Piao Y-Y, Tan Y-Q, Jiang G-Y, Wang J-H, Li Z-M (2013) Thermoelectric behavior of segregated conductive polymer composites with hybrid fillers of carbon nanotube and bismuth telluride. Mater Lett 107:150–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Han S, Chung DDL (2013) Carbon fiber polymer-matrix structural composites exhibiting greatly enhanced through-thickness thermoelectric figure of merit. Compos A 48:162–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Yang Y, Lin Z-H, Hou T, Zhang F, Wang ZL (2012) Nanowire-composite based flexible thermoelectric nanogenerators and self-powered temperature sensors. Nano Res 5:888–895

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Pang H, Xu L, Yan D-X, Li Z-M (2014) Conductive polymer composites with segregated structures. Prog Polym Sci 39:1908–1933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lee TI, Lee S, Lee E, Sohn S, Lee Y, Lee S, Moon G, Kim D, Kim YS, Myung JM, Wang ZL (2013) High-power density piezoelectric energy harvesting using radially strained ultrathin trigonal tellurium nanowire assembly. Adv Mater 25:2920–2925

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Liu J-W, Zhu J-H, Zhang C-L, Liang H-W, Yu S-H (2010) Mesostructured assemblies of ultrathin superlong tellurium nanowires and their photoconductivity. J Am Chem Soc 132:6945–6952

    Google Scholar 

  13. Das VD, Jayaprakash N, Soundararajan N (1981) Thermoelectric power of tellurium films and its thickness and temperature dependence. J Mater Sci 16:3331–3334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Xi Y, Yamanaka A, Bin Y, Matsuo M (2007) Electrical properties of segregated ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite. J Appl Polym Sci 105:2868–2876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Shrivastava NK, Khatua BB (2011) Development of electrical conductivity with minimum possible percolation threshold in multi-wall carbon nanotube/polystyrene composites. Carbon 49:4571–4579

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. See KC, Feser JP, Chen CE, Majumdar A, Urban JJ, Segalman RA (2010) Water-processable polymer-nanocrystal hybrids for thermoelectrics. Nano Lett 10:4664–4667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Yu C, Kim YS, Kim D, Grunlan JC (2008) Thermoelectric behavior of segregated-network polymer nanocomposites. Nano Lett 8:4428–4432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Kim YS, Kim D, Martin KJ, Yu C, Grunlan JC (2010) Influence of stabilizer concentration on transport behavior and thermopower of CNT-filled latex-based composites. Macromol Mater Eng 295:431–436

    Google Scholar 

  19. Antar Z, Feller JF, Noël H, Glouannec P, Elleuch K (2012) Thermoelectric behavior of melt processed carbon nanotube/graphite/poly(lactic acid) conductive biopolymer nanocomposites (CPC). Mater Lett 67:210–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Stauffer D (1984) Introduction to the percolation theory. Tayler and Francis, London

    Google Scholar 

  21. Lebovka N, Lisunova M, Mamunya YP, Vygornitskii N (2006) Scaling in percolation behaviour in conductive-insulating composites with particles of different size. J Phys D Appl Phys 39:2264–2271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Linares A, Canalda JC, Cagiao ME, Ezquerra TA (2011) Conducting nanocomposites based on polyamide 6,6 and carbon nanofibers prepared by cryogenic grinding. Compos Sci Technol 71:1348–1352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Regev O, Elkati PNB, Loos J, Koning CE (2004) Preparation of conductive nanotube-polymer composites using latex technology. Adv Mater 16:248–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Chen J, Shi Y-Y, Yang J-H, Zhang N, Huang T, Chen C, Wang Y, Zhou Z-W (2012) A simple strategy to achieve very low percolation threshold via the selective distribution of carbon nanotubes at the interface of polymer blends. J Mater Chem 22:22398–22404

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the Fundamental R&D Program for Core Technology of Materials (10050890, Chalcogenide nanostructure-based room-temperature (25 °C) H2 & H2S gas sensors with low power consumption) and supported by Nano Material Technology Development Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (No. 2016M3A7B4900044).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Seil Kim & Nosang V. Myung

  2. Department of Fusion Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan, 426-791, Korea

    Seil Kim, Seung Han Ryu, Tae-Yeon Hwang, Yoseb Song, Hong-Baek Cho & Yong-Ho Choa

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, 139-743, Korea

    Young-In Lee

  4. Department of Materials Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan, 426-791, Korea

    Sungho Seo & Bongyoung Yoo

  5. Electrochemistry Department, Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon, 641-831, Korea

    Jae-Hong Lim

Authors
  1. Seil Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Young-In Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Seung Han Ryu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tae-Yeon Hwang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yoseb Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sungho Seo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Bongyoung Yoo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jae-Hong Lim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Hong-Baek Cho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Nosang V. Myung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Yong-Ho Choa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Nosang V. Myung or Yong-Ho Choa.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 1853 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kim, S., Lee, YI., Ryu, S.H. et al. Synthesis and thermoelectric characterization of bulk-type tellurium nanowire/polymer nanocomposites. J Mater Sci 52, 12724–12733 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1384-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1384-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation