Abstract
Recently, conducting polymers have been widely used in thermoelectric (TE) technology, owing to their bendability, easy processability, their low intrinsic thermal conductivity and their distinct TE functions. Thus, in this respect, a new TE system based on Poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene):Poly(styrenesulphonate) and Zinc peroxide nano-particles (PEDOT:PSS/ZnO2) has been constructed for TE purposes. The impact of ZnO2 content on the anisotropic (in plane//and through plane.) TE functions has been investigated at 300 K. At ZnO2 = 60 wt %, PEDOT:PSS/ZnO2 system owns an optimal sigma(//)similar to 1348.33 +/- 27.5 S/m and sigma(1)similar to 791.68 +/- 30.9 S/m higher than sigma(//)similar to 870.16 +/- 26.5 S/m and sigma(perpendicular to)similar to 512.59 +/- 12.58 S/m of PEDOT:PSS thanks to the great surface area, high dispersion, high electronegativity nature of ZnO2, besides, the strong interactions between ZnO2 and PEDOT:PSS, and the increase in the carrier mobility. The PEDOT:PSS/ZnO2 system owns an optimal S-// similar to 31.63 +/- 0.35 mu V/K and S-perpendicular to similar to 25.76 +/- 0.20 mu V/K at ZnO2 = 60 wt% higher than S-// similar to 15.5 +/- 0.5 mu V/K and S-perpendicular to similar to 10.66 +/- 0.37 mu V/K for PEDOT:PSS thanks to the decrease in the carrier concentration. The PEDOT:PSS/ZnO2 system owns an optimal PF// similar to 1.34 +/- 0.04 mu W/mK(2) and PF perpendicular to similar to 0.52 +/- 0.04 mu W/mK(2) at ZnO2 = 60 wt% higher than PF//similar to 0.20 +/- 0.04 mu W/mK(2) and PF perpendicular to similar to 0.05 +/- 0.01 mu W/mK(2) for PEDOT:PSS owing to the energy filtering effects at the interfaces and the increase in the carrier mobilities. Accordingly, the obtained zT(//) similar to 4.26 +/- 0.2 x 10(-4) and zT(perpendicular to) similar to 2.72 +/- 0.1 x 10(-4) have been achieved at 300 K for ZnO2 = 60 wt%. The system displays a high environmental (humid and air) stability. Finally, the suggested system which is based on PEDOT:PSS and peroxide metals shows promising TE functions for many applications such as electronic, temperature sensing and wearable technology.