A novel n-type hybrid composite with a large Seebeck coefficient around room temperature based on poly(3,4-ethylene dioxydiophene) and titanium disulfide

Abstract

A great effort is given to make flexible thermoelectric modules to convert thermal energy to electric energy, recently. A thermoelectric module is fabricated by connecting several p- and n-type thermoelectric material couples. Although air stable p-type polymeric thermoelectric materials made progress in performance and stability, n-type polymeric materials are still confronted with significant challenges for achieving efficient and stable thermoelectric material. An efficient n-type thermoelectric material was simply produced in this study by mixing the TiS2 with PEDOT:PSSA dispersion and then ultra-sonicating the mixture in an ice bath. The highest power factor of 1516 mu W m(-1) K-2 was achieved and the highest figure of merit, Z(T) of 1.14 was estimated at 300 K by assuming 0.4 W m(-1) K-1 of the thermal conductivity of the composite containing 20% of TiS2. To the best of our knowledge, this power factor is the highest among the n-type polymeric thermoelectric materials reported in the literature.