A review on the development of conjugated polymer-based textile thermoelectric generator

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) materials based on conjugated/conductive polymers can directly convert heat into electricity, and thus found promising applications in energy scavenging and cooling technologies. The performance of these thermoelectric materials is governed by different parameters like the nature of the material, thermal stability, electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity. Although the traditional inorganic semiconductor materials such as PbTe (Lead Telluride), Bi2Te3 (Bismuth Telluride), SiGe (Silicon-Germanium), SnSe (Tin Selenide), and Skutterudite (CoAs2) are giving high performance, they have some inherent limitations, such as poor processability, toxicity, rare availability, and high cost of manufacturing. Whereas, organic conjugated polymers such as polyacetylene (PA), polyaniline (PANi), Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), polypyrrole (PPy), poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT), etc. have low cost of synthesis, light in weight, low toxicity and better processibility. Organic textile thermoelectric generators (T-TEG) can be prepared by in-situ polymerization of the conjugated polymers onto textile substrates. This article reviews the preparation, design and performance of these T-TEGs. Various approaches and scopes of improvement of efficiency of the thermoelectric effect of the T-TEGs are discussed. Various potential applications of the T-TEG in different fields are also described.

Energy Harvesting Materials and Structures for Smart Textile Applications: Recent Progress and Path Forward

“…Various conjugated conductive polymers can be used to prepare thermoelectric energy harvesting devices [ 135 ]. For instance, polypyrrole was coated on a polyester net-type fabric by in situ polymerization during deposition [ 136 ].…”

A review of graphene-based broad bandwidth microwave absorbing textile-based composites in the low-frequency range

“…6,7 The microwave absorbing textile-based composites are widely used because of their excellent absorption and characteristics, such as lightweight, remarkable plasticity, flexibility, and low cost. 8,9…”

“…6–8 Therefore, the nature of the microwave absorbers should be broad bandwidth, as well as lightweight, small thickness, strong absorption, excellent stability, appropriate flexibility, and physical compatibility in the low-frequency range. 9

Figure 1.(a) Common definition of electromagnetic spectrum ranges of the corresponding frequency bands. (b) Various microwave and terahertz devices are widely applied in modern society.

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Advancement of Polyaniline/Carbon Nanotubes Based Thermoelectric Composites

“…With a proper doping process, carriers are carried out by intra- and inter-chain hopping in the PANI molecules [ 36 , 38 ], contributing to efficient carrier transport and thus enhanced σ . Though σ up to 300 S cm −1 has been achieved when doped with camphor sulfonic acid (CSA), its moderate σ is still a great challenge for efficient TE conversion and further commercial applications [ 39 , 40 ]. Therefore, numerous efforts are required to improve the TE performance of PANI-based materials.…”