Daisuke HAYASHI

Doped single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films were prepared and their Seebeck coefficient (S) and electrical resistivity (ρ) were investigated as functions of carrier density. For heavy doping, a second maximum of S (S = 35 µV/K) was discovered, with its corresponding power factor, P = 85 µW/(m·K²), 6 times that of the first maximum for lightly doped films. Calculations for zigzag SWCNTs suggest that the thermoelectric performance can be effectively improved by controlling the multiplicity of the one-dimensional band and tuning the carrier density. This provides a new strategy for achieving higher performance at a lower cost than using high-purity semiconducting SWCNTs.

The Seebeck coefficient S and the electrical resistivity ρ of single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films were investigated as a function of the SWCNT diameter and carrier concentration. The S and ρ significantly changed in humid environments through p-type carrier doping. Experiments, combined with theoretical simulations based on the non-equilibrium Green’s function theory, indicated that the power factor P can be increased threefold by the enrichment of semiconducting SWCNTs, but the nanotube diameter has little effect. The improvement of the film resistivity strongly enhances the film thermoelectric performance, manifested as increasing the value of P above 1200 µW/(m·K²).