SbTe nanoparticle-containing single-walled carbon nanotube films coated with SbTe electrodeposited layers for thermoelectric applications.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are promising thermoelectric materials owing to their flexibility and excellent durability when exposed to heat and chemicals. Thus, they are expected to be used in power supplies for various sensors. However, their thermoelectric performances are inferior to those of inorganic thermoelectric materials. To improve the thermoelectric performance while maintaining the excellent characteristics of SWCNTs, a novel approach to form inorganic thermoelectric layers on the SWCNT bundle surfaces using electrodeposition is proposed. We synthesized SbTe nanoparticle-containing SWCNT films and coated them with electrodeposited SbTe layers. The SbTe nanoparticles were synthesized via a spontaneous redox reaction, which were then added to a SWCNT dispersion solution, and films were produced via vacuum filtration. At higher nanoparticle contents in the films, the SbTe electrodeposited layers completely covered the SWCNT bundles owing to the increase in the concentration of precursor ions near the SWCNT bundle surface, which in turn was the result of melted nanoparticles. The thermoelectric performance improved, and the maximum power factor at approximately 25 °C was 59.5 µW/(m K), which was 4.7 times higher than that of the normal SWCNT film. These findings provide valuable insights for designing and fabricating high-performance flexible thermoelectric materials.