Textile Thermoelectric Generator Based on Carbon Nanotubes

Smart textile based on seamless device integration into clothing will dominate the wearable technology field in the near future. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a favorable candidate for use in these flexible and wearable electronic devices due to tunability of their electrical and thermal properties, mechanical strength, and lightweight. The wearable devices demand wearable micro-sources of energy. Here, we propose a textile thermoelectric generator based on CNT that can utilize waste heat to generate power. The generator is fiber-structured to make it easily woven into clothing. We simulated a ~5 cm long fiber structured generator with p-n junctions at every 3 mm interval based on CNTs. To model CNTs, experimental data were used in our simulation. This generator generates a thermoelectric voltage of ~55 μV for just a 1 K temperature difference. The thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT for this CNT based device was smaller than previously reported materials. However, it is possible to fabricate CNT based devices with large ZT by proper doping and utilizing the Van Hove singularities in the density of states of CNTs.