In-Plane Thermoelectric Generator of Carbon Nanotube Membrane Driven by Thermal Gas Flow

Abstract

The in-plane thermoelectric generator (TEG) was ingeniously designed when the thermal gas flowed over the carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane at the modest speed of a few meters per second. It was composed of the glass substrate, aurum electrodes and CNT membrane synthesized by a floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition method. In the air under atmospheric pressure, the experimental results showed that the maximal output voltage could reach 1.7 mV. It related not only with the temperature difference between the hot-side and cold-side, but also the temperature gradient of the CNT membrane which was closely dependent on the velocity and temperature of the gas flow. The multi-physical power mechanism was applied to interpret the energy conversion, which included the coupling relation of the fluid dynamics, heat transmission and Seebeck effect. This novel method could effectively enhance the output voltage, extend the applied range of TEG and had a fine prospect.

Thermoelectric generator device based on carbon nanotube membrane

“…When photons are scattered from an atom or molecule, most photons are elastically scattered, such that the scattered photons have the same kinetic energy as the incident photons. However, a small fraction of the scattered photons are scattered by an excitation, with the scattered photons having a frequency different from, and usually lower than, that of the incident photons [20][21].…”