Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) as promising organic thermoelectric materials: A mini-review

This mini-review presents the progress of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based thermoelectric (TE) materials having been made in recent years. Systematic research on the TE properties of PEDOT has been carried out since 2008, and then attracted more and more attentions. For PEDOT-based materials, a ZT of 10(-1) can be easily obtained nowadays. Considering the advanced techniques for bulk material processing and intensive concerns on PEDOT, a ZT similar to 10(0) may be possible for PEDOT-based TE materials in the near future. However, this TE performance level (10(-1)-10(0)) may be enough for military and niche applications, since other inherent attributes of PEDOT such as weight, size, and flexibility may be of greater importance. In this paper, we reviewed various materials based on PEDOT in nanoscales, mixtures, and composites and summarized their TE properties, which might facilitate the future TE research of PEDOT. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.