Thermoelectric Enhancement by Compositing Carbon Nanotubes into Iodine-Doped Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene

Abstract

Free-standing iodine-doped composite samples of poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) with carbon nanotubes (NTs) showed thermoelectric (TE) power factors (PFs) up to 33 μW·m-1·K-2 after optimizing multiple factors, including: (1) sample fabrication solvent, (2) doping time, (3) average MEH-PPV molecular weight, (4) NT fraction in the composite, and (5) use of single-wall versus multi-wall nanotubes (SWNT and MWNT, respectively). Composite fabrication from halogenated solvents gave the best TE performance after iodine doping times of 2-4 h; performance drops substantially in ∼20 h doped samples. TE performance dropped after at least 24 h of removal from iodine vapor but was fully restored upon re-exposure to the dopant. Longer-chain MEH-PPV gave not only mechanically stronger films but also higher PFs in doped SWNT composites. MWNT composites gave low PFs, attributed to poor NT dispersion. Scanning electron microscopy showed increasingly extensive network formation as NT fraction increased in the composites; this phase separation provides charge transport pathways that improve thermoelectric PFs. The results support a strategy of producing phase-separated materials having both electrical conduction enhanced regions and Seebeck thermopower retaining regions to maximize organic TE response.