High-performance post-treatment-free PEDOT based thermoelectric with the establishment of long-range ordered conductive paths

Xin Li, Zhenhang He, Zhen Liu*, Yu Chen, Zekun Zhou, Guixiang Chen, Weiheng Qi, Daniel Rauber, Christopher W. M. Kay, Peng Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this work, post-treatment-free polymer hybrids, consisting of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and ionic liquids (ILs), were fabricated for the thermoelectric (TE) application. By optimizing the ILs’ molar concentration (0–0.5 M) and chemical composition, that is varying the cyano-based anions coupled with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cations, a high TE performance (power factor of 190 μW m−1 K−2) was achieved. The excellent TE performance was attributed to the conductive network under the coupling effect of molecular structure (such as oxidation level, conformation and crystallization of PEDOT chains) and microstructure (long-range ordered conductive paths). Especially, the long-range conductive paths were proved to be made of rod-like microdomains, based on detailed structure analysis with micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. These paths enabled carrier transport among microdomains of PEDOT:PSS/IL hybrids. Moreover, the conductive network of PEDOT:PSS/IL hybrids showed good environmental and mechanical stability, enabling the fabrication of flexible TE generators.

Original languageEnglish
Article number140047
JournalChemical Engineering Journal
Volume454
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Feb 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Ionic liquid
  • PEDOT:PSS
  • Post-treatment-free
  • Structure–property correlation
  • Thermoelectric

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