Toward High Performance n-Type Thermoelectric Materials by Rational Modification of BDPPV Backbones

Ke Shi; Fengjiao Zhang; Chong-An Di; Tian-Wei Yan; Ye Zou; Xu Zhou; Daoben Zhu; Jie-Yu Wang; Jian Pei

doi:10.1021/jacs.5b00945

Toward High Performance n-Type Thermoelectric Materials by Rational Modification of BDPPV Backbones

J Am Chem Soc. 2015 Jun 10;137(22):6979-82. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5b00945. Epub 2015 May 27.

Authors

Ke Shi¹, Fengjiao Zhang², Chong-An Di², Tian-Wei Yan¹, Ye Zou², Xu Zhou¹, Daoben Zhu², Jie-Yu Wang¹, Jian Pei¹

Affiliations

¹ †Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
² ‡Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.

PMID: 25997085
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b00945

Abstract

Three n-type polymers BDPPV, ClBDPPV, and FBDPPV which exhibit outstanding electrical conductivities when mixed with an n-type dopant, N-DMBI ((4-(1,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-benzoimidazol-2-yl)phenyl)dimethylamine), in solution. High electron mobility and an efficient doping process endow FBDPPV with the highest electrical conductivities of 14 S cm(-1) and power factors up to 28 μW m(-1) K(-2), which is the highest thermoelectric (TE) power factor that has been reported for solution processable n-type conjugated polymers. Our investigations reveal that introduction of halogen atoms to the polymer backbones has a dramatic influence on not only the electron mobilities but also the doping levels, both of which are critical to the electrical conductivities. This work suggests the significance of rational modification of polymer structures and opens the gate for applying the rapidly developed organic semiconductors with high carrier mobilities to thermoelectric field.