This paper proposes conducting carbon aerogels, composed of graphene and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, as an option for a thermoelectric material. The researchers found that this combination of materials increased the electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient due to bridging effects, and decreased the thermal conductivity through high porosity and a uniquely structured 3-D skeleton. Atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to quantify the physical structure of the aerogels. ...
This paper investigates the effect sulphate exposure has on the thermal conductivity and mechanical strength of low density cement based foams, with and without microfiber reinforcement. This was done by exposing these cement foams to sulfphate over 90 days. The compressive strength and flexural toughness displayed a cyclic rise and fall for the plain sample, and the opposite for the reinforced sample. The thermal conductivity showed an initial rise, but then ...
Researchers are currently developing ways to produce thermoelectric materials, such as skutterudites, with low lattice thermal conductivity. In this paper, a hydrothermal synthesis procedure was developed to fabricate CoSb3 compounds. A thermal constant analyzer measured the thermal conductivity of three CoSb3 samples using the transient plane source (TPS) method. Results showed that thermal conductivity increased with decreasing temperature, and was much lower for the hydrothermal-synthesized CoSb3 samples than other fabrication ...
Cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles were dispersed in a polystyrene (PS) matrix to synthesize semiconducting optical nanocomposites for industrial applications. In this paper, many characteristics of the PS-CdS thick films were studied including thermal conductivity using the transient plane source (TPS) method. Results showed that the thermally conductive CdS nanoparticles enhanced the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites....
In this paper, thermal properties of CdS and ZnS nanoparticles are examined to understand heat transfer behavior through polystyrene (PS) composites. The transient plane source (TPS) method was used to measure the thermal conductivities of the CdS/PS and ZnS/PS nanocomposites. Results showed that the nanocomposites followed a similar increasing trend until a common temperature where each sample adopted a constant thermal conductivity. Overall, the ZnS/PS nanocomposites showed ...
