Polarity tuning of single-walled carbon nanotube by dipole field of ferroelectric polymer for thermoelectric conversion

Abstract

The tuning of the Seebeck coefficient of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) film was achieved by using the dipole field of a ferroelectric polymer. The Seebeck coefficient was positive under an up-poling dipole field, but negative under a down-poling dipole field, whereas the control remained positive. This tunable behavior can be explained by selective carrier injection and accumulation, which was confirmed by the temperature dependence of electrical conductivity. Connecting p-and n-type SWCNT films tuned by dipole fields to create a π module resulted in a significant improvement in output voltage owing to the temperature difference between the two.