Development of ethenetetrathiolate hybrid thermoelectric materials consisting of cellulose acetate and semiconductor nanomaterials

We investigated novel organic/inorganic hybrid thermoelectric materials prepared using several metal-polymer complexes, binders (insulating polymers), and inorganic semiconductor nanomaterials. It was found that the three-component hybrid thermoelectric materials, which consisted of nanodispersed poly(nickel 1,1,2,2-ethenetetrathiolate) (Ni-PETT), cellulose acetate (CA), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), showed high thermoelectric performance. Ni-PETT had a large negative Seebeck coefficient of −42 µV K −1 and was an n-type semiconducting polymer complex. Ni-PETT sufficiently dispersed p-type CNTs in N -methyl-2-pyrrolidone. The charge transfer interaction between Ni-PETT and CNTs could provide a strong contact. Good films could be obtained by using CA as a binder. In addition, the electrical conductivity of the three-component hybrid films was increased by methanol treatment. The Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and power factor of Ni-PETT/CA/CNT films normalized on the basis of the CNT mass were 1.9, 5.2, and 2.8 times higher than those of the CNT sheets.