Thermoelectric properties of conducting polyaniline/graphite composites

Abstract HClO 4 -doped polyaniline/graphite composites were prepared by mechanical ball milling and cold pressing. The thermoelectric properties for the composites were investigated as a function of graphite concentration. The thermal conductivity ( К ) increases slightly with increasing graphite content but the electric conductivity( σ ) as well as the Seebeck coefficient ( S ) increases remarkably, which leads to an obvious enhancement in the figure of merit for the composites. The ZT of the composite with graphite concentration of 50 wt % was calculated to be 1.37 × 10 − 3 at 393 K, which was at least 10000 times greater than that of the HClO 4 -doped polyaniline without graphite (1.13 × 10 − 7 ). This work suggests a new method to improve thermoelectric properties of conducting polymers.