Authors: Xin Li, Ruike Zou, Zhen Liu, Jitendra Mata, Ben Storer, Yu Chen, Weiheng Qi, Zekun Zhou, Peng Zhang
Published: 2022-01-27
DOI: 10.1038/s41528-022-00138-y
Source: Full article
AbstractIn this work, a polymer and ionic liquid (IL) hybrid with superior thermoelectric performance is prepared via a system design of the chemical composition, molar ratio of the constituent molecules and manipulating the structure in solution and dried films. The solution-casted hybrid film, consisting of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide (EMIM:TCM), shows the highest power factor of 175 μW m−1 K−2in the polymer hybrid prepared by a post-treatment-free method. With a set of complementary structure characterization methods, it is found that EMIM:TCM can induce the structure reorganization of PEDOT:PSS in solution from a core-shell model to a rod-like model, during which PEDOT partially separates from PSS that eases the conductive network formation. In addition, the oxidation level of PEDOT:PSS is reduced by adding EMIM:TCM. Based on which, the PEDOT:PSS/IL hybrid shows the best performance in optimizing the conductivity (1163 S cm−1) and Seebeck coefficient (38.8 μV K−1) simultaneously.