Back to Search
Start Over
Large-area and adaptable electrospun silicon-based thermoelectric nanomaterials with high energy conversion efficiencies
- Source :
- Nature Communications, Nature Communications, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2018)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group UK, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Large amounts of waste heat generated in our fossil-fuel based economy can be converted into useful electric power by using thermoelectric generators. However, the low-efficiency, scarcity, high-cost and poor production scalability of conventional thermoelectric materials are hindering their mass deployment. Nanoengineering has proven to be an excellent approach for enhancing thermoelectric properties of abundant and cheap materials such as silicon. Nevertheless, the implementation of these nanostructures is still a major challenge especially for covering the large areas required for massive waste heat recovery. Here we present a family of nano-enabled materials in the form of large-area paper-like fabrics made of nanotubes as a cost-effective and scalable solution for thermoelectric generation. A case study of a fabric of p-type silicon nanotubes was developed showing a five-fold improvement of the thermoelectric figure of merit. Outstanding power densities above 100 W/m2 at 700 °C are therefore demonstrated opening a market for waste heat recovery.<br />To realize waste heat recovery solutions based on thermoelectricity, high-performance materials with device and manufacturing compatibility are required. Here, the authors demonstrate large-area paper-like nanostructured fabrics consisting of aligned nanotubes with high thermoelectric performance.
- Subjects :
- Materials science
Silicon
Science
General Physics and Astronomy
chemistry.chemical_element
02 engineering and technology
Nanoengineering
010402 general chemistry
01 natural sciences
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Article
Waste heat recovery unit
Waste heat
Thermoelectric effect
lcsh:Science
Multidisciplinary
General Chemistry
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Thermoelectric materials
Engineering physics
0104 chemical sciences
Thermoelectric generator
chemistry
lcsh:Q
Electric power
0210 nano-technology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20411723
- Volume :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature Communications
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ffe8e19a49e813ac4312a6a35ed75adc