Polyethylene Glycol as Additive to Achieve N-Conductive Melt-Mixed Polymer/Carbon Nanotube Composites for Thermoelectric Application

The development of thermoelectric (TE) materials based on thermoplastic polymers and carbon nanotubes is a focus of current TE research activities. For a TE module, both p- and n-conductive composites are required, whereby the production of n-conductive materials is a particular challenge. The present study investigates whether adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) as n-dopant during the melt-mixing of the conductive composites based on polycarbonate, poly(ether ether ketone), or poly(butylene terephthalate) with singlewalled carbon nanotubes (0.5 to 2 wt%) is a possible solution. It was shown that for all three polymer types, a change in the sign of the Seebeck coefficient from positive to negative could be achieved when at least 1.5 wt% PEG was added. The most negative Seebeck coefficients were determined to be -30.1 mu V/K (PC), -44.1 mu V/K (PEEK), and -14.5 mu V/K (PBT). The maximal power factors ranged between 0.0078 mu W/m center dot K-2 (PC), 0.035 mu W/m center dot K-2 (PEEK), and 0.0051 mu W/m center dot K-2 (PBT).