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

TI  - Vapor and Pressure Sensors Based on Cellulose Nanofibers and Carbon Nanotubes Aerogel with Thermoelectric Properties
T2  - Journal of Renewable Materials

PY  - 2018
VL  - 6
IS  - 3
SN  - 2164-6341

AB  - 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.
KW  - CNF/CNTs aerogel
KW  -  thermal conductivity
KW  -  pressure sensing
KW  -  thermoelectric materials
KW  -  VOCs sensing

DO  - 10.7569/JRM.2017.634182