p-Phenediamino-modified graphene (PDG) has been newly synthesized via a facile green one-step chemical route as a functionalized graphene-based additive to copolymerize with aniline for fabricating innovative PDG/polyaniline conducting polymer composites containing very special semi-interpenetrating networks (S-IPNs). The S-IPNs not only provide additional pathways by creating chemically bonded PDG and PANI for smoothly transporting carriers but greatly reduce the amount of graphene required to less than a few percent could effectively improve the overall electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thus the thermoelectric (TE) performance. The found optimized TE figure of merit (ZT) of 0.74 approaches a practical high level which is comparable or much higher than previously reported ones for TE polymers.
Keywords: conducting polymer; graphene; polyaniline; semi-interpenetrating network (S-IPN); thermoelectric.