Polypyrrole/Helical Carbon Nanotube Composite with Marvelous Photothermoelectric Performance for Longevous and Intelligent Internet of Things Application.

Abstract

Helical carbon nanotube (HCNT) is a vital member of carbon nanomaterials, but little effort was devoted to explore its unique characteristics and applications during the past few decades. Here, we report an organic thermoelectric composite with an excellent photothermoelectric (PTE) effect by conformally wrapping polypyrrole (PPy) on the intricate surface of HCNTs, which have been confirmed to have remarkable near-infrared (NIR) photothermal conversion capability and ultralow heat transportation characteristics. The results indicate that with the increasing HCNT content, PPy shell thickness reduces and exhibits denser as well as partial orientation, while the inter-ring angle slowly decreases and the bipolaron becomes dominant in carrier composition gradually. Consequently, the Seebeck coefficient increases monotonically, whereas the electrical conductivity remains nearly invariant. The final composite combines the benign thermoelectric properties, excellent photothermal response performance, and the lowest thermal conductivity of the carbon-based thermoelectric composite yet reported (0.064 W m-1 K-1). A single strip NIR light-stimulated adjustable delay switch was designed and fabricated, with the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current under a 400 mW cm-2 NIR-stimulated approach to 720 μV and 62 nA with the discrepancy of consecutive periodic output signals less than 4.2%, exhibiting incredible stability and reliability and demonstrating the highest output voltage of a single strip among the reported organic PTE composite at room temperature. Our work fills in a gap of HCNT research, which hitherto existed in the PTE and thermoelectric field.