Ultralight conducting PEDOT:PSS/carbon nanotube aerogels doped with silver for thermoelectric materials

Abstract

A significant enhancement in the thermoelectric performance was observed for three-dimensional conducting aerogels, which were obtained from poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : poly(4-styrenesulfonic) (PEDOT:PSS) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) suspensions by adding different concentrations of metallic silver (Ag). It was found that the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient could be simultaneously increased with the unique structure. Moreover, the conducting aerogels have an ultralow thermal conductivity (0.06 W m −1 K −1 ) and a large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area (228 m 2 g −1 ). The highest figure of merit (zT) value in this study was 7.56×10 −3 at room temperature upon the addition of 33.32 wt.% Ag. Although the zT value was too low, our work may provide new insights into the design and development of the thermoelectric material for applications. Further investigation with PEDOT:PSS aerogels will be continued to get an economical, lightweight, and efficient polymer thermoelectric material.

Efficient DMSO-Vapor Annealing for Enhancing Thermoelectric Performance of PEDOT:PSS-Based Aerogel

“…These results are consistent with previous report. 35 It should be noted that the effect of different solvent addition on the TE enhancement of PEDOT:PSS aerogel films is significantly different. Although the PP−EG exhibits the highest enhancement in σ compared to other solvents, the increase in P is limited by the decrease of S. Among all of the solvents used in this work, the PP−NMP aerogel film achieves a high σ of 35.0 S cm −1 and S of 18.8 μV K −1 , resulting in the largest P of 1.24 μW m −1 K −2 , which is higher than that of pristine PEDOT:PSS.…”

“…Recently, the multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and Ag nanowires are used to construct a 3D network with PEDOT:PSS, they compose a ternary PEDOT:PSS/MWCNT/Ag (PCA) composite aerogel film by the freeze drying method resulting in a maximum ZT of 7.56 × 10 −3 . 35 Although the TE performance of PEDOT:PSSbased aerogel film has been significantly improved, the compromise between σ and S is still difficult to achieve a high ZT value due to their opposite dependence on the charge carrier density. 36 A new method and theory should be developed further to look for a better compromise and achieve high TE performance for PEDOT:PSS-based composite aerogels.…”

Superhydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride/polyimide nanofiber composite aerogels for thermal insulation under extremely humid and hot environment

“…Aerogels are porous materials with nanostructures and exhibit promising potential for heat management due to their high porosity, low density, large specific surface area and low thermal conductivity [10][11][12][13][14]. In the past few decades, a variety of aerogel materials have been suc-cessfully prepared, including graphene [15][16][17], silica [18], carbon nanotubes [19,20] and synthetic polymers [21,22]. Recently, aerogels based on SiO 2 have become promising thermal insulating materials owing to their ultra-low thermal conductivity [23].…”

Simultaneous improvement in electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of PEDOT:PSS by N2pressure-induced nitric acid treatment

“…Nevertheless, a large amount of waste heat in our surroundings is below 200 C. Therefore, organic thermoelectric materials which can provide high performance at low temperature have gained increasing interest in recovering the huge amount of low temperature waste heat. 7,8 Recently, among the conducting polymers, many research groups have focused on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):(poly styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) due to its stability, processability, exibility, high conductivity and transparency. [9][10][11][12] However, there are numerous restrictions for this material to overcome before broad application in thermoelectric devices, i.e.…”