POLYMERS Vol.63　No.11 November 2014

POLYMERS　Vol.63　No.11

COVER STORY
Smart Progress on Science and Technology of Carbon-Based Thermoelectric Materials

Thermoelectricity, in which temperature difference directly generates electricity, has been a traditional subject of solid-state physics. Over the past decade, nano-structured inorganic substances with low-dimensional electronic states have been extensively studied for future thermoelectric energy conversion technology. Recently, carbon-based thermoelectric materials such as conducting polymers and nano-carbon materials, which can be classified as typical low-dimensional thermoelectric materials, have been progressing rapidly. After systematic study of the stretching, doping and compound technologies of conducting polymers, their thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency, characterized with the specific material parameter of ZT, has been much improved. In the last few years, a number of new concepts for efficient and flexible thermoelectric materials have been proposed, boosting carbon-based substances to the most prominent candidates for near future thermoelectric materials working below 100℃. In this special issue, the broad leaders in the polymer chemistry may touch on the cutting-edge of research for future renewable energy resources.

Editors: KAWAI, NOZUE, and FUKUSHIMA

Digest for English Readers

770

Hot Topics in Polymer Science in SPSJ

774

Commentary

Overview of Thermoelectric Materials Exploitation

Kunihito KOUMOTO

775

Tutorial

Fundamental Concepts and Perspective View for Thermoelectric Polymer

Yoshiyuki NONOGUCHI, Tsuyoshi KAWAI

776

COVER STORY: Highlight Reviews

Toward Computational Simulation Aided Screening for High Performance Thermoelectric Material Search	Yoshihiro ASAI	779
Recent Progress of Organic and Hybrid Thermoelectric Materials	Naoki TOSHIMA	782
Development of Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials	Hiromichi OHTA	785

PolyMANGA

788

COVER STORY: Topics and Products

Separation of Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes Towards High Efficiency Thermoelectric Devices	Hiromichi KATAURA	789
Flexible Porous Bismuth Telluride Thin Films with Enhanced Figure of Merit Using Micro-Phase Separation of a Block Copolymer	Koji MIYAZAKI	791
Flexible Organic Thermoelectric Materials for Energy Harvesting	Toshiaki AOAI	793
Independent Control of Carrier and Heat Flow in Carbon Nanotube Thermoelectric Composites Using Bio-Nano Junctions	Masakazu NAKAMURA	795

Polymer Science and I: A Personal Account

Aspiring to Do Excellent Research for People and Society

Yuri KAJIHARA

797

Messages: “Work and Life”

Nobody Knows the Right Answer - There is No Right Answer

Shusaku NAGANO

798

Front-Line Polymer Science

Molecular Simulations of Polymer Crystallization

Takashi YAMAMOTO

799

From My Bookshelf

Sadahito AOSHIMA / Keiji TANAKA

803

Reports from Local Divisions

Report from the 60th Polymer Research Symposium (Kobe)

Yasuaki KOSEKI

804

Messages from SPSJ

806

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