CHAPTER 3: Synthesis of Organic Thermoelectric Materials

Thermoelectric material, one of the new energy materials, is regarded as one of the most important energy-saving materials, which can directly achieve the interconversion between heat and electricity. Since its discovery and wide application, organic thermoelectric materials have attracted wide attention over the past several decades. The applications of organic thermoelectric materials have shown numerous advantages such as low-cost fabrication, facile processability, light weight, and flexibility. In particular, the past several years have witnessed remarkable progress in organic thermoelectric materials and devices. In this chapter, we will focus on various conducting polymers, such as polyacetylene (PA), polyaniline (PANi), polypyrrole (PPy), polythiophene (PTh), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), polycarbazoles (PCz), polyphenylenevinylene (PPV), and their derivatives, as well as D-A type polymers with a low bandgap, metal-organic coordination polymers and some semiconductors based on small molecules, which have been developed and investigated on thermoelectric performance. Various strategies for the synthesis of these organic thermoelectric materials are discussed in detail and their thermoelectric properties are summarized. Prospects and suggestions with respect to future research and development are also concluded with the authors' outlook.