Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance of Indacenodithiophene-Benzothiadiazole Copolymer Containing Polar Side Chains and Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes Composites

Zhongming Chen; Tongchao Liu; Chengjun Pan; Guiping Tan

doi:10.3390/polym12040848

Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance of Indacenodithiophene-Benzothiadiazole Copolymer Containing Polar Side Chains and Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes Composites

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Apr 7;12(4):848. doi: 10.3390/polym12040848.

Authors

Zhongming Chen¹, Tongchao Liu^{1

2}, Chengjun Pan², Guiping Tan¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan Cleaner Production Technology Center, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China.
² Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.

Abstract

Composite films of indacenodithiophene-bezothiadazole copolymers bearing polar side chains (P1) and single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are found to show a competitive thermoelectric performance compared to their analogous polymers with aliphatic side chains (P2). The enhanced power factors could be attributed to the stronger interfacial interactions between the P1/SWCNTs compared to that of P2/SWCNTs containing the same ratio of SWCNTs. A maximum power factor of 161.34 μW m^-1 K^-2 was obtained for the composite films of P1/SWCNTs for a filler content of 50 wt%, which is higher than that of P2/SWCNTs (139.06 μW m^-1 K^-2, 50 wt%). Our work sheds light on the design of side-chains in efficient conjugated polymers/SWCNTs thermoelectric materials and contributes to the understanding of their thermoelectric properties.

Keywords: composites; interfacial interactions; organic thermoelectric materials.

Grants and funding

21706030/National Natural Science Foundation of China