Thermoelectric Properties of Conducting Polymer Nanowire–Tellurium Nanowire Composites

Abstract

In recent years, the thermoelectric properties of inorganic/polymer composites have been markedly improved. However, the enhancement mechanism in inorganic/polymer composites is still far from clear. In this work, we fabricate a novel type of thermoelectric composite by mixing high-mobility poly­(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanowire with tellurium nanowire and investigate the thermoelectric properties by varying the loading of tellurium nanowires and the underlying enhancement mechanism. We find that the addition of tellurium nanowire can enhance the thermoelectric power factor of inorganic/polymer nanowire composites by ∼40%. We, for the first time, quantitatively interpret the effect of energy filtering on thermoelectric power factor enhancement in polymer inorganic composites by employing the hopping transport theory. In contrast to the series/parallel connected model, we determine that the energy filtering is more feasible to physically explain the thermoelectric enhancement. It can numerically explain the enhancement in Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and power factor. We believe it is assigned to the high carrier mobility in nanowire composites and proper energy barrier at polymer/inorganic interfaces.

Recent Progress of Two-Dimensional Thermoelectric Materials

“…As a potential high-performance thermoelectric material, conductive polymers exhibit unique advantages such as a low thermal conductivity, flexibility, lightweight, and efficient solution processability [9,[198][199][200][201][202]. However, more work needs to be done to further improve their thermoelectric performance to use them in flexible and wearable thermoelectric devices.…”

Enhancement of the Seebeck Coefficient of Organic Thermoelectric Materials via Energy Filtering of Charge Carriers

“…If there is no electronic interaction between the two materials, the conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the composites can be estimated in Composites with various inorganic TE materials and TE polymers were reported in literature, such as Bi 2 Te 3 /P3HT, 53,54 Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 /PEDOT:PSS, [55][56][57] Te/PANi, 58 and Te/PEDOT. 59 However, it is often observed that the Seebeck coefficient of these composites follow neither the series nor the parallel model. Carbon nanomaterials, particularly carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, are also popular fillers of TE polymers, such as CNTs/PEDOT:PSS, [60][61][62] CNTs/PANi, [63][64][65][66] and SWCNTs/P3HT.…”

Thermoelectric Materials for Textile Applications

“…Moreover, the challenge of combining rigid inorganic small molecules efficiently with polymers is a challenge [ 73 ]. Nevertheless, with the fabrication of nanowire-based OInTEs, there may be some applicability in the future for such materials into textile fiber-like form factors [ 257 ].…”