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Investigating the effect of microwave growth parameter regulation in the growth and thermoelectric properties of zinc oxide nanorods/carbon fabric for wearable thermoelectric application

  • Carbon Letters
  • Abbr : Carbon Lett.
  • 2025, 35(4), pp.1715~1729
  • DOI : 10.1007/s42823-025-00890-x
  • Publisher : Korean Carbon Society
  • Research Area : Natural Science > Natural Science General > Other Natural Sciences General
  • Received : October 20, 2025
  • Accepted : February 28, 2025
  • Published : December 11, 2025

Prasanna C. Suresh 1,  Harish S. 1,  Yamakawa T. 2,  Ikeda K. 2,  Hayakawa Y. 2,  Hamasaki H. 3,  Ikeda H. 3,  Navaneethan M. 1

1Nanotechnology Research Center, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur
2Nara Institute of Science and Technology
3Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Wearable thermoelectric devices offer a transformative approach to energy harvesting, providing sustainable solutions for powering next-generation technologies. In pursuit of efficient, flexible, biocompatible, and cost-effective thermoelectric materials, zinc oxide (ZnO) has emerged as a distinctive candidate due to its unique combination of favorable properties. This study explores the growth and optimization of ZnO nanorods on conductive carbon fabric (CF) using a simple microwave-assisted solvothermal technique. This method circumvents traditional complex processes that typically involve high temperatures or lengthy growth times, offering advantages such as rapid, uniform, and controllable volumetric heating. By systematically varying growth parameters, including microwave power and reaction time, we established conditions that promote the vertical alignment of ZnO nanorods, essential for enhancing thermoelectric performance. Structural and morphological analyses highlight the pivotal influence of the seed layer and growth parameters in achieving dense, uniform growth of ZnO nanorods. Interestingly, at higher microwave power levels, a transformation from nanorod structures to sheet-like morphologies was observed, likely due to Ostwald ripening, where larger particles grow at the expense of smaller ones. The optimized growth conditions for achieving superior growth and thermoelectric performance were identified as 15 min of growth at 100 W microwave power. Under these conditions, ZnO nanorods exhibited enhanced crystallinity and a higher growth rate, contributing to an improved thermoelectric power factor of 777 nW/mK2 at 373 K. This work underscores the importance of precise parameter control in tailoring ZnO nanostructures for wearable thermoelectric applications and demonstrates the potential of scalable, low-cost methods to achieve high-performance energy-harvesting materials.

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