Composite of polyaniline-bismuth selenide with enhanced thermoelectric performance

Conducting polymer-chalcogenide composites have recently been used as propitious contenders for light-weight, cost-saving, and nonhazardous thermoelectric (TE) applications. In this work, polyaniline-bismuth selenide (PANI-Bi2Se3) nanoplate composites are fabricated via combining in situ oxidative polymerization and solvothermal method. X-ray diffraction spectra illustrate a uniform growth of PANI matrix over Bi2Se3 nanoplates (BS NPs), directing toward a more ordered composite structure during polymerization. There is a reduction in average crystalline-size, estimated from Williamson-Hall plot for the composite. Transmission electron microscopic and field emission microscopic images unveil the formation of two-dimensional (2D) layered-like structure of the composite. Fourier transform infrared spectra shows the interactions between the BS NPs along with the polymer chains by forming a 2D layered-like composite structure. The enhanced transport properties can be elucidated on the basis of 2D variable-range hopping model. The augmentation of power factor (S-2 sigma) of the composite is nearly 30 times with an insignificant change in thermal conductivity (kappa) as compared to PANI. This improves the high temperature TE performance (ZT = S-2 sigma T/kappa similar to 0.18) of the composite with 30 wt % BS NPs (ZT(PANI)similar to 0.009). (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46887.