Hybrid organic-inorganic thermoelectric materials through a concept of vapor phase infiltration
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Hybrid organic-inorganic thermoelectric materials through a concept of vapor phase infiltration
CIC nanoGUNE Seminars
- Speaker
-
Kristina Ashurbekova, Post-doctoral Researcher, Nanomaterials, CIC nanoGUNE
- When
-
2023/04/17
13:00
- Place
- nanoGUNE seminar room, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia - San Sebastian
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**Hybrid organic-inorganic thermoelectric materials through a concept of vapor
phase infiltration**
Kristina Ashurbekova
Post-doctoral Researcher, Nanomaterials, CIC nanoGUNE
Thermoelectric (TE) devices have attracted great interest in waste heat
recovery and solar heat utilization. Most ongoing research focuses on
inorganic TEs for their high Seebeck coefficient (S) and electrical
conductivity (σ). Their drawbacks are their low conversion efficiency,
toxicity, and their high cost, which are serious obstacles for their broad
use. Less attention has been paid to organic TEs, mainly because of their
limited range of operating temperatures. The figure-of-merit of organic TEs is
usually 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than that of inorganic ones, due to
their low S, σ, and, consequently, power factor (PF). However, organic
materials have some key benefits over inorganic materials, including their low
density, low cost, and low thermal conductivity. Very recently, hybrid
organic-inorganic materials have been considered as promising candidates for
exceptionally good TEs as they opt for outperforming traditional TEs by
combining the low thermal conductivity of organic materials with the high S
and σ of inorganic materials. With the ability to offer flexible,
inexpensive, and scalable energy conversion, hybrid materials are an
unavoidable future perspective of TE technology. Still, currently available
hybrid TEs have serious limitations: 1) the dominantly physical interactions
between the organic and inorganic phases reduce their long-term stability and
greatly restrict the carrier transport in hybrid TE materials, 2) limited
control of the distribution of the organic/inorganic phases at the nanoscale
makes enhancement of phonon scattering in hybrid TE materials difficult. To
advance these materials and overcome the challenges, in this work we are
introducing revolutionary new hybrid TE materials by applying vapor phase
infiltration (VPI) process to polymers. A complete thermoelectric
characterization of a new set of hybrid materials was performed with a lab-on-
chip ZT test platform, which allowed the characterization of all in-plane
thermoelectric parameters of the spin-coated and infiltrated PEDOT:PSS thin
films.