Conducting polymers, and their use in energy harvesting applications, are an important class of materials in the development of new materials for sustainability.  For instance, thermoelectric polymers offer conformal coating, flexibility, and ease of processing, providing an inexpensive and viable alternative to highly conductive rare metals that are currently used.  Understanding the relationships between fabrication processes, morphology, and thermoelectric performance in conducting polymers is required to move this field towards the rational development of high-efficiency organic thermoelectrics. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is a commonly used and studied conducting polymer blend, that currently has the highest reported ZT of any bulk organic material at room temperature.  Moreover, previous studies have shown that altering the film fabrication process, including the addition of high boiling solvents to its precast solution or immersion of the cast film in ethylene glycol, will increase its electrical conductivity and significantly change its Seebeck value. In this presentation, We will disuss a set of neutron scattering experiments that correlate the changes in the atomic, nanoscale and mesoscale morphology of PEDOT:PSS to the fabrication procedure.  The results show significant changes in the structure of the PEDOT:PSS blend with the addition of DMSO to the pre-deposition solvent and post-deposition soaking in ethylene glycol.  Moreover, we will discuss how these atomic and nanoscale changes correlate to the known thermoelectric performance of the PEDOT:PSS films.

Correlating atomic and nanoscale structure of PEDOT:PSS polymers blends to thermoelectric behavior

2019 Fall National Meeting

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