Ternary thermoelectric composites of polypyrrole/PEDOT:PSS/carbon nanotube with unique layered structure prepared by one-dimensional polymer nanostructure as template

Abstract Recently, organic polymer-based thermoelectric (TE) hybrids or composites have received significant attention. Here, a unique layered morphology of polypyrrole/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)/single-walled carbon nanotube (PPy/PEDOT:PSS/SWCNT) ternary TE composites are designed using 1D nanostruture of PPy as template. The nanowires of PPy/PEDOT:PSS binary composites are obtained via coating PEDOT:PSS on the surfaces of 1D PPy nanowires. Interestingly, the PPy/PEDOT:PSS/SWCNT ternary composites reveal unexpected layered morphology and dramatically-enhanced TE function with an optimal power factor of 45.3 ± 1.4 μW m−1 K−2 at room temperature. This study will enrich the structure design and preparation strategy of novel TE composites by judicious combing 1D polymer nanostructure with 3D layered networks of composites.