Using silane products on fabrication of polymer-based nanocomposite for thin film thermoelectric devices

Abstract

These days, climate change as a motivating force for most of the researches focuses on the development of more environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient devices. In this field, thermoelectric (TE) technology has important properties rather than the other types of renewable technologies in which it requires no sunlight, moving parts, and also is freely scalable. Among using of TE materials, crystalline semiconductors attract a lot of attention (e.g.: bismuth chalcogenides and lead telluride (PbTe)); however, their usage has been restricted due to concerns regarding toxicity. Consequently, the application of low dimensional polymer-nanocomposite materials (e.g.: thin films) has been studied regarding to their low cost, non-toxic, manufacturability, and favorable thermoelectric characteristics. In this research the effects of silane products on fabrication of polymerbased TE thin films are evaluated. The results demonstrated the silane layers can ameliorate the final TE performance via the surface chemical treatment and dispersion of nanoparticles, increasing the interfaces and boundaries for phonon scattering and structural stabilities against the mechanical and thermal stresses for the fragile low-dimensional nanoparticles.