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Title: Intrinsic and Extrinsically Limited Thermoelectric Transport within Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks

Journal Article · · Advanced Electronic Materials
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)

Abstract Doped networks of semiconducting single‐walled carbon nanotubes (s‐SWCNTs) have recently demonstrated high thermoelectric (TE) power factors and figures of merit. Efforts to further improve the TE performance of s‐SWCNT networks hinge upon deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying charge transport. This study explores the dependence of conductivity, thermopower, and resulting TE power factor on carrier density and temperature in s‐SWCNT networks. Careful control of charge‐carrier density illustrates a distinct transition between transport that is limited by energetic barriers between nanotube bundles to an “intrinsic” regime where these barriers are small enough to reveal the intrinsic transport mechanism of the nanotubes. Transport is activated in the s‐SWCNT networks, although a critical survey of the literature demonstrates that the activation energies in s‐SWCNT networks are appreciably smaller than typical semiconducting polymers. At high conductivity, transport behavior is consistent with deformation potential scattering. The analysis demonstrates that mitigation of the “extrinsic” limitations to transport (e.g., inter‐nanotube junctions), and the concomitant reduction of conductivity activation energies, can lead to at least a doubling of the TE power factor. Further comparison to prototypical semiconducting polymers demonstrates that this strategy likely represents a general design principle for improving the TE performance of organic materials.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308; DE‐AC36‐08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1501658
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1497252
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-73027
Journal Information:
Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 11; ISSN 2199-160X
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 24 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Customizing the Polarity of Single‐Walled Carbon‐Nanotube Field‐Effect Transistors Using Solution‐Based Additives journal November 2019
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