Tailoring the Seebeck Coefficient of Spray-Coated Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): Poly(styrenesulfonate) Films with Nitrogen Doped Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

The thermoelectric properties of flexible thin films fabricated from two commercial poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) formulations filled with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and nitrogen-doped MWCNT (N-MWCNT) were investigated. A simple spray-coating method for the fabrication of such flexible films on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate was developed. While increasing the MWCNT concentration had little effect on the thermoelectric properties, increasing the N-MWCNT concentration resulted in the emergence of an overall n-type semiconducting behavior and, thereby, tailoring the Seebeck coefficient of the composite films from p-type to n-type was shown. The Seebeck coefficient of the two PEDOT:PSS formulation films was inverted from 4.1 to -13.3 μV/K and from 12.5 to -10.9 μV/K respectively, with increasing N-MWCNT concentration from 0 to 95 wt.%. The importance of these results for future work stems from the possibility of tailoring the behavior of a typical p-type polymer such as PEDOT:PSS and the effect that the polymer conductive grade has on the switching concentration.