Thermoelectric behavior of conducting polymers: On the possibility of off-diagonal thermoelectricity
- TecOne, Inc., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
Non-cubic materials, when structurally aligned, possess sufficient anisotropy to exhibit thermoelectric effects where the electrical and thermal paths can be orthogonal due to off-diagonal thermoelectricity (ODTE). The authors discuss the benefits of this form of thermoelectricity for device applications and describe a search for suitable thermoelectric properties in the air-stable conducting polymers polyaniline and polypyrrole. They find, at 300K for diagonal (ordinary) thermoelectricity (DTE), the general correlation that the logarithm of the electrical conductivity varies linearly with the Seebeck coefficient on doping, but with a proportionality in excess of a prediction from theory. The correlation is unexpected in its universality and unfavorable in its consequences for applications in DTE and ODTE. A standard model suggests that conduction by carriers of both signs occurs in these polymers, which thus leads to reduced thermoelectric efficiency. They also discuss polyacetylene (which is not air-stable), where this ambipolar conduction does not occur, and where properties seem more favorable for thermoelectricity.
- Research Organization:
- TecOne, Inc., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-95ER12171
- OSTI ID:
- 291149
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/12171-1; ON: DE99001053; TRN: AHC29901%%356
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: [1998]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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