Salts improve the thermopower of carbon materials
-The development of air-stable n-type carbon nanotube thermoelectrics
toward an uninterrupted power supply (UPS)-

Prof. Tsuyoshi Kawai, Assist. Prof. Yoshiyuki Nonoguchi, and colleagues in the Graduate School of Materials Science, NAIST, have developed a highly durable, high-performance thermopower sheet made from carbon nanotubes and salts. The thermosheet exhibits long-term stability for power generation at elevated temperatures up to 150 oC in air.

This thermoelectric power generator (TEG) is expected to harness electrical power from industrial plants and many other heat sources such as PCs, vehicles, and buildings, boosting energy-saving efforts in the fight against global warming. Additionally, collaboration with a company has enabled the development of practical TEGs that can power LEDs under ambient conditions.

A paper reporting this thermoelectric power generator was published in Advanced Functional Materials, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., on May 10th, 2016.

Reference:
Y. Nonoguchi,* M. Nakano, T. Murayama, H. Hagino, S. Hama, K. Miyazaki, R. Matsubara, M. Nakamura, T. Kawai* (* corresponding authors)
"Simple Salt-coordinated n-Type Nanocarbon Materials Stable in Air"
Advanced Functional Materials, 26, 3021-3028 (2016).