Screen-printed bismuth telluride nanostructured composites for flexible thermoelectric applications
Screen-printed bismuth telluride nanostructured composites for flexible thermoelectric applications
We herein report the results of a facile two-step surfactant assisted reflux synthesis of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) nanowires (NWs). The as-synthesised NWs had diameters ranging from 70 to 110 nm with a length varying between 0.4 and 3 µm and a preferential lattice orientation of (0 1 5) as determined by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction. We demonstrate for the first time that a solvent/binder paste formulation of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is suitable for screen-printing the Bi2Te3 NWs with the potential for the fabrication of flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials. The wt% of PVDF in the composite films was varied from 10% to 20% to identify the optimal composition with a view to achieving maximum film flexibility whilst retaining the best TE performance. The films were screen-printed onto Kapton substrates and subjected to a post-printing annealing process to improve TE performance. The annealed and screen printed Bi2Te3/PVDF NW composites yielded a maximum Seebeck coefficient −192 µV K−1 with a power factor of 34 µW m−1K−2 at 225 K. The flexible screen printed composite films were flexible and found to be intact even after 2000 bending cycles.
bismuth telluride nanowires, screen-printing, thermoelectrics
Amin, Aran
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Huang, Ruomeng
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Newbrook, Daniel
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Sethi, Vikesh
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Yong, Sheng
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Beeby, Stephen
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Nandhakumar, Iris S.
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1 April 2022
Amin, Aran
0b64338d-d0e9-4373-ac36-60ae71b2665d
Huang, Ruomeng
c6187811-ef2f-4437-8333-595c0d6ac978
Newbrook, Daniel
8eb26553-e1e2-492d-ad78-ce51a487f31f
Sethi, Vikesh
e0c3adf8-b928-46c4-b59f-4428cafe7774
Yong, Sheng
688cbcf0-b32e-4b2b-9891-a0e0e1f59d71
Beeby, Stephen
ba565001-2812-4300-89f1-fe5a437ecb0d
Nandhakumar, Iris S.
e9850fe5-1152-4df8-8a26-ed44b5564b04
Amin, Aran, Huang, Ruomeng, Newbrook, Daniel, Sethi, Vikesh, Yong, Sheng, Beeby, Stephen and Nandhakumar, Iris S.
(2022)
Screen-printed bismuth telluride nanostructured composites for flexible thermoelectric applications.
Journal of Physics: Energy, 4 (2), [024003].
(doi:10.1088/2515-7655/ac572e).
Abstract
We herein report the results of a facile two-step surfactant assisted reflux synthesis of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) nanowires (NWs). The as-synthesised NWs had diameters ranging from 70 to 110 nm with a length varying between 0.4 and 3 µm and a preferential lattice orientation of (0 1 5) as determined by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction. We demonstrate for the first time that a solvent/binder paste formulation of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is suitable for screen-printing the Bi2Te3 NWs with the potential for the fabrication of flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials. The wt% of PVDF in the composite films was varied from 10% to 20% to identify the optimal composition with a view to achieving maximum film flexibility whilst retaining the best TE performance. The films were screen-printed onto Kapton substrates and subjected to a post-printing annealing process to improve TE performance. The annealed and screen printed Bi2Te3/PVDF NW composites yielded a maximum Seebeck coefficient −192 µV K−1 with a power factor of 34 µW m−1K−2 at 225 K. The flexible screen printed composite films were flexible and found to be intact even after 2000 bending cycles.
Text
Amin_2022_J._Phys._Energy_4_024003
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 21 February 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 March 2022
Published date: 1 April 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the financial support of equipment Grant (EP/K00509X/1) for the SmartLab. A Amin and I Nandhakumar wish to acknowledge the RSC for Grant E21-3692126553 and EPSRC grant EP/T026219/1.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
Keywords:
bismuth telluride nanowires, screen-printing, thermoelectrics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 456969
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/456969
ISSN: 2515-7655
PURE UUID: a0e6a3a3-f4c1-4f83-9c9b-0734daea9a3d
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Date deposited: 18 May 2022 17:03
Last modified: 09 Aug 2024 02:05
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