Engineered Molecular Chain Ordering in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes/Polyaniline Composite Films for High-Performance Organic Thermoelectric Materials

Liming Wang; Qin Yao; Juanxiu Xiao; Kaiyang Zeng; Sanyin Qu; Wei Shi; Qun Wang; Lidong Chen

doi:10.1002/asia.201600212

Engineered Molecular Chain Ordering in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes/Polyaniline Composite Films for High-Performance Organic Thermoelectric Materials

Chem Asian J. 2016 Jun 21;11(12):1804-10. doi: 10.1002/asia.201600212. Epub 2016 May 27.

Authors

Liming Wang^{1

2

3}, Qin Yao^{4

5}, Juanxiu Xiao⁶, Kaiyang Zeng⁶, Sanyin Qu^{1

2}, Wei Shi^{1

2

3}, Qun Wang^{1

2}, Lidong Chen^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China.
³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China. yaoqin@mail.sic.ac.cn.
⁵ CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China. yaoqin@mail.sic.ac.cn.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117576, Singapore.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China. cld@mail.sic.ac.cn.
⁸ CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China. cld@mail.sic.ac.cn.
⁹ Shanghai Institute of Materials Genome, Shanghai, 200050, China. cld@mail.sic.ac.cn.

PMID: 27123885
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201600212

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs)/polyaniline (PANI) composite films with enhanced thermoelectric properties were prepared by combining in situ polymerization and solution processing. Conductive atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed that solution processing and strong π-π interactions between the PANI and SWNTs induced the PANI molecules to form a highly ordered structure. The improved degree of order of the PANI molecular arrangement increased the carrier mobility and thereby enhanced the electrical transport properties of PANI. The maximum in-plane electrical conductivity and power factor of the SWNTs/PANI composite films reached 1.44×10(3) S cm(-1) and 217 μW m(-1) K(-2) , respectively, at room temperature. Furthermore, a thermoelectric generator fabricated with the SWNTs/PANI composite films showed good electric generation ability and stability. A high power density of 10.4 μW cm(-2) K(-1) was obtained, which is superior to most reported results obtained in organic thermoelectric modules.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes; composite materials; nanostructures; pi interactions; thermoelectric materials.