Effect of Inorganic Doping on the Thermoelectric Behavior of Polyaniline Nanocomposites

Abstract:

Polyaniline (PANI) has been considered for thermoelectric (T.E) applications due to its facile preparation methods, easy doping-dedoping processes and its environmental stability. Like other conducting polymers (CPs), it has low thermal conductivity (usually below 1 Wm^-1K^-1) which is favorable for T.E applications, however studies have shown that it still suffers from low power factors as a result of low electrical conductivity. For this reason, PANI has been compounded with other materials such as polymers, inorganic nanoparticles and carbon nanoparticles to enhance its electrical conductivity, power factors (PF) and ultimately zT value.This work is focused on the synthesis and characterization of n-type polyaniline nanocomposites doped with reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The rGO was prepared through oxidation of graphite and subsequent reduction and incorporated into polyaniline through in situ polymerization and the resulting nanocomposites were characterized. Addition of rGO resulted in enhancement of the electrical conductivity of polyaniline from 10^-3 S/cm to 10^-1 S/cm which is two orders of magnitude higher. This contributed to the enhanced PF, an indication that thermoelectric behavior of conducting polymers can be boosted through compounding with inorganic materials.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 835)
• Pages: 200-207
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.835.200
• Online since: March 2020
• Authors: Mariamu K. Ali*, Ahmed Abd Moneim
• Keywords: Graphene Oxide, Polyaniline, Power Factor, Seebeck Effect, Thermoelectricity

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