Enhanced thermoelectric property by the construction of a nanocomposite 3D interconnected architecture consisting of graphene nanolayers sandwiched by polypyrrole nanowires

Abstract

A new strategy, i.e. interfacial adsorption-soft template polymerization, is developed to enhance polymer thermoelectric property. The obtained nanocomposite 3D interconnected architecture consisting of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanolayers sandwiched by polypyrrole (PPy) nanowires is directly confirmed by scanning and transmission electron microscopies. Moreover, the nanocomposites reveal significantly enhanced thermoelectric performance. At rGO : PPy ratio of 50 wt%, the nanocomposite power factor reaches ∼476.1 times that of pure PPy nanowires. Our results suggest that a greatly enhanced thermoelectric property for polymer nanocomposites can be achieved by a complex morphology design.