Polymer morphology and interfacial charge transfer dominate over energy-dependent scattering in organic-inorganic thermoelectrics

Kumar, Pawan; Zaia, Edmond W.; Yildirim, Erol; Repaka, D. V.  Maheswar; Yang, Shuo-Wang; Urban, Jeffrey J.; Hippalgaonkar, Kedar

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-07435-z

Title: Polymer morphology and interfacial charge transfer dominate over energy-dependent scattering in organic-inorganic thermoelectrics

Journal Article · Mon Dec 17 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07435-z· OSTI ID:1493278

Kumar, Pawan ^[1]; Zaia, Edmond W. ^[2]; Yildirim, Erol ^[3]; Repaka, D. V. Maheswar ^[1]; Yang, Shuo-Wang ^[3]; Urban, Jeffrey J. ^[4]; Hippalgaonkar, Kedar ^[1]

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (Singapore)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Institute of High Performance Computing (Singapore)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Hybrid (organic-inorganic) materials have emerged as a promising class of thermoelectric materials, achieving power factors (S²σ) exceeding those of either constituent. The mechanism of this enhancement is still under debate, and pinpointing the underlying physics has proven difficult. In this work, we combine transport measurements with theoretical simulations and first principles calculations on a prototypical PEDOT:PSS-Te(Cu_x) nanowire hybrid material system to understand the effect of templating and charge redistribution on the thermoelectric performance. Further, we apply the recently developed Kang-Snyder charge transport model to show that scattering of holes in the hybrid system, defined by the energy-dependent scattering parameter, remains the same as in the host polymer matrix; performance is instead dictated by polymer morphology manifested in an energy-independent transport coefficient. We build upon this language to explain thermoelectric behavior in a variety of PEDOT and P3HT based hybrids acting as a guide for future work in multiphase materials.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1493278

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 50 works

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