Preparation and Thermoelectric Properties of Graphite/poly(3,4-ethyenedioxythiophene) Nanocomposites

Abstract

Graphite/poly(3,4-ethyenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nanocomposites were prepared by an in-situ oxidative polymerization process. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the graphite/PEDOT nanocomposites with different content of graphite were measured in the temperature range from 300 K to 380 K. The results show that as the content of graphite increased from 0 to 37.2 wt %, the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites increased sharply from 3.6 S/cm to 80.1 S/cm, while the Seebeck coefficient kept almost the same value (in the range between 12.0 μV/K to 15.1 μV/K) at 300 K, which lead to an increased power factor. The Seebeck coefficient of the nanocomposites increased from 300 K to 380 K, while the electrical conductivity did not substantially depend on the measurement temperature. As a result, a power factor of 3.2 μWm−1 K−2 at 380 K was obtained for the nanocomposites with 37.2 wt % graphite.