Thermoelectric behaviour of segregated conductive polymer composites with hybrid fillers of carbon nanotube and bismuth telluride

摘要

A segregated polymer composite based on ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), carbon nanotube (CNT) and p type bismuth telluride (Bi_2Te_3) was fabricated. Morphology observation confirmed the formation of a typical segregated conductive network of CNT/Bi_2Te_3 hybrids, in which the CNTs/ Bi_2Te_3 hybrid fillers were only located at the interfaces of UHMWPE domains to form continuous conducting pathways. The segregated composite containing 2.6 vol% CNTs and 5.1 vol% Bi_2Te_3 exhibited an electrical conductivity of 45 S/m, thermal conductivity of 0.43 W/mK, Seebeck coefficient of 29 μV/K, and thermoelectric figure of merit ZT=3 × 10~(-5) at room temperature. This work implies that the formation of a segregated structure in polymer composites demonstrates a new strategy to develop polymer-based thermoelectric materials.