Author(s)

Xiaohua Chen¹, Guangshi Tang^1*, Junqing Pan¹, Hanfu Wang²

¹College of Science, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
²CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China, Beijing, China.

Exploiting the thermal insulation properties of glass fiber and excellent conductivity of conducting polymer, a novel one-dimensional (1D) composite thermoelectric material, based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): p-toluenesulfonic acid (PEDOT: p-TSA)/glass fiber, is prepared by coating the PEDOT: p-TSA on the surface of glass fiber with in situ polymerization method. We hope the materials can bring out the performance of the “electron conductor, photon glass”. During the polymerization process, the effects of oxidant concentration and dopant mass fraction on thermoelectric properties of the materials are investigated. The group type of the polymer chain and the morphology of the samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The maximal Seebeck coefficient (S) and electric conductivity (σ) of the pristine sample are 32 μVK^-1 and 169 Sm^-1, respectively. After further post-processing with methanol, the thermoelectric properties of materials were improved, and the maximum value of S and σ increased greatly to 48.5 μVK^-1 and 3184 Sm^-1, respectively. The maximal power factor (PF) of materials also increased from 0.12 μWm^-1 K^-2 to 6.74 μWm^-1 K^-2. Moreover, we have proposed a preliminary explanation on the carrier transport mechanism.

Thermoelectric Materials, Flexible Fiber, Seebeck Coefficient, Organic-Inorganic Composite, In Situ Polymerization

Chen, X.H., Tang, G.S., Pan, J.Q. and Wang, H.F. (2018) Synthesis and Thermoelectric Property of 1D Flexible PEDOT: p-TSA/Glass Fiber. Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 6, 448-463. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2018.63032.