The effect of polystyrene sulfonate on the thermoelectric properties of polyaniline/silver nanowires nanocomposites

Polyaniline:polystyrene sulfonate/silver nanowires nanocomposites (PANI:PSS/AgNWs) have been fabricated via incorporating AgNWs into PANI:PSS with simple physical mixing. The water-dispersity, microstructure and thermoelectric properties of the nanocomposites were investigated. The incorporation of PSS improved the water-dispersity of PANI and played an important role in the enhanced thermoelectric performance of the nanocomposites. PSS effectively improved the Seebeck coefficient of the nanocomposites. The maximum power factor of 0.85 A mu W/mK(2) was achieved with the addition of 9.0 wt% AgNWs at a PANI:PSS mass ratio of 1:5, which is 6, 28 and 21 times higher than that of PANI:PSS, PANI and PANI/AgNWs, respectively. Therefore, the incorporation of PSS provided an effective way to improve the thermoelectric properties of conductive polymer composites.