Nanojunctions Contributing to High Performance Thermoelectric ZnO-Based Inorganic-Organic Hybrids**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 51476095 and 51206103, the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission under Grant No 13YZ128, and the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning.

Abstract

Organic-inorganic nanojunctions can result in a selective scattering of charge carrier depending on their energy, which leads to a simultaneous increase in the Seebeck coefficient S and the power factor. In this work, the nano-junction is successfully employed at the organic-inorganic semiconductor interface of polyparaphenylene (PPP) and Zn1-xAgxO nanoparticles through the sol-gel method. The presence of nanoinclusions PPP in Zno.9Ag0.1O matrix is found to be effective in improving the figure of merit (ZT) by the dual effects of an increase in the power factor consistent with the heterojunction effect and a reduction in thermal conductivity. Zn0.9Ag0.1O/0.1 wt% PPP exhibits a maximum figure of merit, i.e., ZT = 0.22.