Photo-thermoelectric nanofiber film based on the synergy of conjugated polymer and light traps for the solar-energy harvesting of textile solar panel

Converting solar energy into electricity is highly appealing for portable wearable devices. Herein, an facile lowtemperature in situ interface polymerization is proposed to fabricate poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber film (PAN-PEDOT). Owing to the synergy of PEDOT and fabric light traps, the fabricated PAN-PEDOT owns excellent photo-thermoelectric performances with a power factor of similar to 256.61 nWm(-1) k(-2). Accordingly, a photo-thermoelectric harvester assembled by the optimum PAN-PEDOT strip and the copper wires reached a 0.17 mV voltage output under infrared (IR) light. Furthermore, a flexible textile solar panel assembled using the optimum PAN-PEDOT and the conductive nanofiber films were placed under an IR lamp and sunlight to investigate its performance in on-body applications. Results showed that the solar panel can obtain a voltage outputs of 1.39 mV and 0.56 mV and a power outputs of 0.37 nW and 0.06 nW under an IR lamp and sunlight, respectively. Therefore, the photo-thermoelectric fabric has high potential in solar-to-heat and solar-to-electricity applications.

Automated summary

A novel technique utilizing low-temperature in-situ interface polymerization to fabricate nanofiber films with excellent photo-thermoelectric properties has been proposed. The photo-thermoelectric harvester assembled with the optimal strip and copper wires generated a voltage output of 0.17 mV under infrared light, while the flexible textile solar panel produced voltage outputs of 1.39 mV and 0.56 mV under an IR lamp and sunlight, respectively.