Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of Composites Prepared With Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene) Poly(Styrenesulfonate) and Vertically Aligned Se Wire

In Yea Kim; Dong Won Chun; Sang-Il Kim; Jae-Hong Lim

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.791155

Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of Composites Prepared With Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene) Poly(Styrenesulfonate) and Vertically Aligned Se Wire

Front Chem. 2022 Jan 26:9:791155. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.791155. eCollection 2021.

Authors

In Yea Kim¹, Dong Won Chun², Sang-Il Kim³, Jae-Hong Lim¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gachon University, Seongnam, South Korea.
² Center for Energy Materials Research, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

Controlling the electronic transport behavior in thermoelectric composites is one of the most promising approaches to enhance their power factor because this enables decoupling of the correlation between the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. Herein, we show that the unexpected high power factor of the Se nanowire array embedded in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) can be achieved by controlling the interfacial band structure engineering. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient simultaneously increased, confirming that the synthesis of organic/inorganic hybrid thermoelectric materials with improved performance was possible. Our exploration can be helpful for the rational design of high-performance thermoelectric composites through interface engineering.

Keywords: PEDOT:PSS; Se wires array; carrier scattering; galvanic displacement; thermoelectric.