Nickel Oxide Decorated MWCNTs Wrapped Polypyrrole: One Dimensional Ternary Nanocomposites for Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance

• Published in: ChemNanoMat : chemistry of nanomaterials for energy, biology and more biology and more, 2024-03, Vol.10 (3)
• Main Authors: Bourenane Cherif, Younes, Mekhalif, Zineb, Abdous, Slimane, Nedjar, Linda, Mekki, Ahmed, Bekkar Djelloul Sayah, Zakaria, Rafai, Souleymen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2199-692X; 2199-692X
• DOI: 10.1002/cnma.202300486

This study reports on a customized and revised approach to fabricate “nickel oxide decorated multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) wrapped polypyrrole (PPy)” nanocomposite with enhanced room‐temperature thermoelectric (TE) properties. The nanocomposite is formed through three steps: MWCNTs functionalization via diazonium salt grafting of 5‐amino‐1,2,3‐benzene tricarboxylic acid; in situ generation on their surfaces of NiO nanoparticles with a homogenous distribution; the chemical polymerization of pyrrole using methyl orange as templating and dopant to wrap the MWCNTs‐(COOH) 3 ‐NiO. Various techniques were used as characterization tools, including XRD, TEM, FTIR, Raman, TGA, XPS, and TE measurements. The PPy‐MWCNTs‐(COOH) 3 ‐NiO nanocomposite exhibits significantly higher Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and power factor than PPy and PPy‐MWCNTs‐(COOH) 3 . The achieved enhancement in TE properties (figure of merit, ZT PPy‐MWCNTs‐(COOH)3‐NiO =1.51×10 −2 ) is attributed to the presence of NiO, which acts as a dopant and improves the charge carrier density in the nanocomposite. These results offer the potential for waste heat recovery and large‐scale fabrication of high‐performance composites.