Outstanding Low Temperature Thermoelectric Power Factor from Completely Organic Thin Films Enabled by Multidimensional Conjugated Nanomaterials Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • In an effort to create a paintable/printable thermoelectric material, comprised exclusively of organic components, polyaniline (PANi), graphene, and doublewalled nanotube (DWNT) are alternately deposited from aqueous solutions using the layerbylayer assembly technique. Graphene and DWNT are stabilized with an intrinsically conductive polymer, poly(3,4ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). An 80 quadlayer thin film (1 m thick), comprised of a PANi/graphenePEDOT:PSS/PANi/DWNTPEDOT:PSS repeating sequence, exhibits unprecedented electrical conductivity ( 1.9 105 S m1) and Seebeck coefficient (S 120 V K1) for a completely organic material. These two values yield a thermoelectric power factor (PF = S 2 1) of 2710 W m1 K2, which is the highest value ever reported for a completely organic material and among the highest for any material measured at room temperature. These outstanding properties are attributed to the highly ordered structure in the multilayer assembly. This waterbased thermoelectric nanocomposite is competitive with the best inorganic semiconductors (e.g., bismuth telluride) at room temperature and can be applied as a coating to any flexible surface (e.g., fibers in clothing). For the first time, there is a real opportunity to harness waste heat from unconventional sources, such as body heat, to power devices in an environmentallyfriendly way.

published proceedings

  • ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Cho, C., Wallace, K. L., Tzeng, P., Hsu, J., Yu, C., & Grunlan, J. C.

citation count

  • 243

complete list of authors

  • Cho, Chungyeon||Wallace, Kevin L||Tzeng, Ping||Hsu, Jui-Hung||Yu, Choongho||Grunlan, Jaime C

publication date

  • April 2016

publisher