Abstract
In this literature, we have successfully designed novel silver decorated nitrogen doped carbon dots/poly(3,4ethylene-dioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulphonate)/poly (vinyl alcohol) (Ag@NCDots/PEDOT:PSS/PVA) nanocomposite films for thermoelectric applications. The anisotropic (in plane//and through plane perpendicular to) thermoelectric functions are briefly studied, however we have focused on the through plane thermoelectric functions. It was found that both a perpendicular to and a//values increase with increasing the Ag@NCDots to be a perpendicular to = 181.7 +/- 11 S/cm and a//= 287.4 +/- 19 S/cm at 8 wt%, thanks to the creation of conductive paths inside the films and the increment in both carrier mobility and carrier concentration. Although k//-1.8k perpendicular to was achieved at 8 wt% of Ag@NCDots, the films showed an under control behavior for k perpendicular to with a value (0.195 W/mK) due to the creation of a gaseous atmosphere of nitrogen which occupies the defects and voids in the nano-composite. S//and S perpendicular to values increase and the value of S perpendicular to (77.5 +/- 1.7 mu V/K) has been achieved at 8 wt% of Ag@NCDots. The PF perpendicular to -109.20 +/- 4 mu V/mK2 and a ZT perpendicular to -0.148 have been achieved at a minute concentration of Ag@NCDots (8 wt%) at room temperature. PF//shows higher values than PF perpendicular to because a//is higher than a perpendicular to, while ZT//shows a smaller value than that in ZT perpendicular to at 8 wt% of Ag@NCDots as k perpendicular to is lower than k//. The films exhibited a much higher tensile strength (127.8 MPa) than PEDOT: PSS/PVA (42.2 MPa) and Young's modulus (1.52 GPa) larger than PEDOT:PSS/PVA (0.29 GPa) at the 8 wt% of Ag@NCDots, proving the excellent properties of this nano-composite for thermoelectric applications. 12 legs flexible thermoelectric generator has been engineered with an ability to generate an output voltage of (Voutput = 15.12 mV) at a AT = 16 K. Finally, this nano-composite has a promising functional application as a flexible thermal sensor and wearable thermoelectric generators thanks to its unique properties and easy reproducibility.