Open Access

ARTICLE

Vapor and Pressure Sensors Based on Cellulose Nanofibers and Carbon Nanotubes Aerogel with Thermoelectric Properties

Rajendran Muthuraj, Abhishek Sachan, Mickael Castro*, Jean-François Feller, Bastien Seantier*, Yves Grohens

Dupuy de Lôme Research Institute (IRDL), FRE CNRS 3744, University of Southern Brittany, Rue de Saint Maudé, 56321 Lorient Cedex, France

*Corresponding authors: ; mickael.

Journal of Renewable Materials 2018, 6(3), 277-287. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2017.634182

Abstract

In this work, thermally insulating and electrically conductive aerogels were prepared from cellulose nanofibers (CNF) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by environmentally friendly freeze-drying process. The thermal conductivity of neat CNF aerogel is 24 mW/(m·K) with a density of 0.025 g/cm3. With the addition of CNTs into CNF aerogel, the electrical conductivity was significantly increased while the thermal conductivity was increased to 38 mW/(m·K). Due to these interesting properties, the Seebeck coefficient and the figure of merit (ZT) of the CNF/CNTs aerogels were measured and showed that CNF/CNTs aerogel thermoelectric properties can be improved. The compressibility and electrical resistance of the CNF/CNTs aerogel highlighted its pressure-responsive property. A set of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were exposed to aerogels to monitor the resistance change. The CNF/CNTs aerogel showed high sensitivity and good response to both nonpolar and polar vapors due to the absorption by both CNF and CNTs networks. The prepared CNF/CNTs aerogel is therefore a good candidate for thermal insulation, thermoelectric material, VOCs sensing, and pressure-sensing applications.

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Keywords

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