Seebeck coefficient of thermopile made of nickel-coated carbon fiber

Abstract

A textile-based thermopile has been fabricated by etching the nickel layer of a nickel coated carbon fiber (NiCF) selectively to form a series of CF-NiCF junctions along the NiCF. The pristine NiCF was inserted into the polyester woven fabric manually. Each half part of the float yarns was covered with Lurapret ® D579 dropwise to form a 36-pair CF-NiCF thermopile. After drying in the oven, the sample was etched in the etching solution, then rinsed with water and air dried. The Seebeck coefficient resulting from 36-pair CF-NiCF thermopile is 93.04 μV/K. This proofs that creating a flexible thermoelectric generator from a conductive textile yarn is possible.