Flexible Carbon Nanotube-Epitaxially Grown Nanocrystals for Micro-Thermoelectric Modules

Abstract

Flexible thermoelectric materials have attracted increasing interest because of their potential use in thermal energy harvesting and high-spatial-resolution thermal management. However, a high-performance flexible micro-thermoelectric device (TED) compatible with the microelectronics fabrication process has not yet been developed. Here a universal epitaxial growth strategy is reported guided by 1D van der Waals-coupling, to fabricate freestanding and flexible hybrids comprised of single-wall carbon nanotubes and ordered (Bi,Sb)(2)Te-3 nanocrystals. High power factors ranging from approximate to 1680 to approximate to 1020 mu W m(-1) K(-2 )in the temperature range of 300-480 K, combined with a low thermal conductivity yield a high average figure of merit of approximate to 0.81. The fabricated flexible micro-TED module consisting of two p-n couples of freestanding thermoelectric hybrids has an unprecedented open circuit voltage of approximate to 22.7 mV and a power density of approximate to 0.36 W cm(-2) under approximate to 30 K temperature difference, and a net cooling temperature of approximate to 22.4 K and a heat absorption density of approximate to 92.5 W cm(-2).