A synthetic approach for enhanced thermoelectric properties of PEDOT:PSS bulk composites

Abstract

The thermoelectric properties of PEDOT:PSS/Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 polymer/inorganic bulk composites with different Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 content were investigated. The composites were prepared at various concentrations of Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 by a solution-phase process before grinding to fine powders in liquid N2 for hot pressing into bulk polymer composite materials. The measured transport properties are well described within a theoretical model for effective media involving a tunneling mechanism induced by thermal voltage fluctuations. Our results present a strategy for the preparation of bulk polymer composites and demonstrate an avenue for optimization of the thermoelectric properties of PEDOT:PSS/Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 bulk composites.

Recent Development of Thermoelectric Polymers and Composites

“…Such enhanced electron transport and diminished phonon transport by engineering the inorganic/organic interfaces have also been reported for other composites, such as Bi 2 Te 3 /PEDOT:PSS, Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 /PEDOT:PSS, SnSe/PEDOT:PSS, MoS 2 /PEDOT:PSS, Te/PANi, MoS 2 /PANi, Bi 2 Te 3 /PANi, and MoS 2 /PPy . For instance, Katz et al incorporated both p‐ and n‐type Bi 2 Te 3 powders into PEDOT:PSS matrix by drop casting PEDOT:PSS solutions on predeposited Bi 2 Te 3 films ( Figure a,b) .…”

Mechanically Durable and Flexible Thermoelectric Films from PEDOT:PSS/PVA/Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 Nanocomposites

“…As the BST content increases from 0 to 36 wt%, the Seebeck coefficient is significantly improved and the highest Seebeck coefficient is obtained as high as 144 µV K −1 for 36 wt% composite film which is higher than the reported value of 130 µV K −1 at 300 K for the PEDOT:PSS/BST composite pellet with 30 wt% BST. [37] This is mainly contributed by the BST nanoparticles with much smaller sizes whose Seebeck coefficient is 205 µV K −1 at 300 K. [36] Beyond 36 wt%, the measured Seebeck coefficient drops to 31.8 µV K −1 for 65 wt% PPBST film at room temperature. We believe this change can be explained by the fact that carrier transport property in polymer composites are strongly influenced by their morphology as we discuss below.…”

“…ZT References PEDOT:PSS/AgNWs b) 2.86 0.002 [48] PEDOT:PSS/BST b) 8.50 0.010 [37] PEDOT:PSS/SWCNTs b) 25.00 0.020 [49] PEDOT:PSS/Gp/CNTs c) 37.08 0.030 [50] PEDOT:PSS/Bi 2 Te 3 d) 9.90 0.040 [31] PEDOT:PSS/MoS 2 d) 45.60 0.040 [51] PEDOT:PSS/BST d) 32.26 0.050 [32] PEDOT:PSS/PVA/BST d) 47 during the stretching process. Similarly, the Seebeck coefficient drops to 24.1% for the strain of 25%.…”

Non-conventional charge transport in organic semiconductors: magnetoresistance and thermoelectricity

“…This is especially true for n-type organic materials which are currently under-performing in thermoelectrics, which places limits on the performance of all-organic thermoelectric generators. By combining improved materials with improved processing focussing on molecular (polymer) alignment 51,116 , morphology and hybrid composites 2,45,117 there is a great potential for efficient organic thermoelectric generators in the near future.…”

“…3 should be adopted. 41 Organic materials whose thermoelectric properties have been studied 42 include polymers such as poly(thienothiophene), 43 poly(ethylene-dioxythiophene) [44][45][46][47][48][49][50] (PEDOT), polyaniline, 51 poly(pphenylene vinylene) derivatives, 52,53 poly(3-hexylthiophene), 1,54 carbazole polymers, [55][56][57] metal coordination polymers, 58 and P(NDIOD-T2) 59 , as well as small molecules such as fullerenes, [60][61][62][63] perylene diimide derivatives and organic salts based on TTF, TCNQ, BEDT-TTF and tetrathiotetracene amongst others. 44,[64][65][66][67][68][69][70] Of these, PEDOT has recently shown excellent performance as a p-type thermoelectric material with ZT reported up to 0.42 71 .…”