†A.G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083, United States.
‡High-Performance Materials Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States.
ACS Nano. 2015 May 26;9(5):4743-56. doi: 10.1021/nn507117a. Epub 2015 Mar 16.
Thermophones are highly promising for applications such as high-power SONAR arrays, flexible loudspeakers, and noise cancellation devices. So far, freestanding carbon nanotube aerogel sheets provide the most attractive performance as a thermoacoustic heat source. However, the limited accessibility of large-size freestanding carbon nanotube aerogel sheets and other even more exotic materials recently investigated hampers the field. We describe alternative materials for a thermoacoustic heat source with high-energy conversion efficiency, additional functionalities, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective production technologies. We discuss the thermoacoustic performance of alternative nanostructured materials and compare their spectral and power dependencies of sound pressure in air. We demonstrate that the heat capacity of aerogel-like nanostructures can be extracted by a thorough analysis of the sound pressure spectra. The study presented here focuses on engineering thermal gradients in the vicinity of nanostructures and subsequent heat dissipation processes from the interior of encapsulated thermoacoustic projectors. Applications of thermoacoustic projectors for high-power SONAR arrays, sound cancellation, and optimal thermal design, regarding enhanced energy conversion efficiency, are discussed.
热声换能器在高功率声纳阵、柔性扬声器和噪声消除设备等应用中具有广阔的应用前景。到目前为止，独立式碳纳米管气凝胶片作为热声热源提供了最有吸引力的性能。然而，大尺寸独立式碳纳米管气凝胶片和其他最近研究的更奇特材料的有限可及性阻碍了该领域的发展。我们描述了具有高能转换效率、附加功能、环保和具有成本效益的生产技术的热声热源的替代材料。我们讨论了替代纳米结构材料的热声性能，并比较了它们在空气中的声压光谱和功率依赖性。我们证明，通过对声压谱的彻底分析，可以提取气凝胶状纳米结构的热容。本文的研究重点是工程化纳米结构附近的热梯度，以及随后从封装的热声投影仪内部的热耗散过程。讨论了热声投影仪在高功率声纳阵、声音消除和最佳热设计方面的应用，以提高能量转换效率。
