Thermoelectric Enhancement in Polyaniline Composites with Polypyrrole-Functionalized Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes

This work suggests a facile method to improve the thermoelectric properties of polyaniline (PANi) composites. Carbon multiwall nanotubes (MWNTs) were noncovalently functionalized with polypyrrole (PPy-MWNTs) based on in situ polymerization, and these PPy-MWNTs were used to synthesize PPy-MWNT/PANi composites. The surface-functionalized PPy nanolayer on the MWNTs was found to yield a homogeneous dispersion of MWNTs and strong interfacial adhesion. The resulting composites demonstrated a remarkable enhancement in both electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, and exhibited a high power factor of 3.1 μW/m K² compared with the values of 0.006 μW/m K² for PANi and 0.1 μW/m K² for MWNT/PANi composite at 28.6 wt.% MWNT loading. The obtained results indicate that this method is useful for synthesizing conductive polymer composites with improved thermoelectric performance.