Biomimetic Approach to Facilitate the High Filler Content in Free-Standing and Flexible Thermoelectric Polymer Composite Films Based on PVDF and Ag2Se Nanowires
- 18 November 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Vol. 12 (46), 51506-51516
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c15414
Abstract
A high filler content is often needed in polymer composite-based thermoelectric (TE) films to improve their performance. Nevertheless, this often leads to poor processability and poor mechanical performance. Herein, a biomimetic approach is adopted to facilitate the filler content up to 90.5 wt % in free-standing and flexible n-type PVDF/Ag2Se TE films, where PVDF dendricolloids are a solution mixed with Ag2Se nanowires (NWs), followed by filtration. These soft dendric nanoparticles within PVDF dendricolloids have high adhesivity and strong network-building ability, which allows the formation of "grapevine-grape"-like networks with soft dendritic particles and inorganic TE fillers as "grapevine" and "manicure finger grapes", respectively. The maximum power factor of 189.02 mu W m(-1) K-2 is achieved for a PVDF/Ag2Se mass ratio of 1:9.5 at 300 K. Meanwhile, excellent flexibility with only 15.8% decrease in electrical conductivity after 1000 bending cycles was observed. These properties at such a high filler content are attributed to the long-range grapevine-like network of soft PVDF dendritic particles and entanglement between numerous Ag2Se NWs. This work carves a path to fabricate high-performance free-standing flexible n-type TE composite films as well as other functional polymer composites requiring high inorganic filler loading.Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (51773139, 51922071)
This publication has 61 references indexed in Scilit:
- Tin Selenide Molecular Precursor for the Solution Processing of Thermoelectric Materials and DevicesACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2020
- Boosting High Thermoelectric Performance of Ni-Doped Cu1.9S by Significantly Reducing Thermal ConductivityACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2020
- Flexible, High-Power Density, Wearable Thermoelectric Nanogenerator and Self-Powered Temperature SensorACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2019
- Nanoscale Organic Thermoelectric Materials: Measurement, Theoretical Models, and Optimization StrategiesAdvanced Functional Materials, 2019
- Flexible Thermoelectric Materials and Generators: Challenges and InnovationsAdvanced Materials, 2019
- Good Performance and Flexible PEDOT:PSS/Cu2Se Nanowire Thermoelectric Composite FilmsACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2019
- Boosting the thermoelectric performance of p-type heavily Cu-doped polycrystalline SnSe via inducing intensive crystal imperfections and defect phonon scatteringChemical Science, 2018
- Organic thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting and temperature controlNature Reviews Materials, 2016
- Rational Design of Advanced Thermoelectric MaterialsAdvanced Energy Materials, 2013
- Towards high-performance polymer-based thermoelectric materialsEnergy & Environmental Science, 2013