TY - JOUR
T1 - Engineering the Thermoelectrical Properties of PEDOT
T2 - PSS by Alkali Metal Ion Effect
AU - Dong, Jingjin
AU - Liu, Jian
AU - Qiu, Xinkai
AU - Chiechi, Ryan
AU - Koster, L. Jan Anton
AU - Portale, Giuseppe
N1 - Funding Information:
The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO) are acknowledged for allocating the beam time at the Dutch–Belgian beamline (DUBBLE, ESRF, and Grenoble) for the GIWAXS experiments. The authors are grateful to the DUBBLE team for their help during the beam time. Giuseppe Portale acknowledges the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials for the startup funds. Jingjin Dong and Giuseppe Portale are grateful to the China Scholarship Council (201606340158).
Funding Information:
The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO) are acknowledged for allocating the beam time at the Dutch?Belgian beamline (DUBBLE, ESRF, and Grenoble) for the GIWAXS experiments. The authors are grateful to the DUBBLE team for their help during the beam time. Giuseppe Portale acknowledges the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials for the startup funds. Jingjin Dong and Giuseppe Portale are grateful to the China Scholarship Council (201606340158). Jingjin Dong, Jian Liu, Xinkai Qiu, Ryan Chiechi, Jan Anton Koster, and Giuseppe Portale declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 THE AUTHORS
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - Engineering the electrical properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) holds great potential for various applications such as sensors, thermoelectric (TE) generators, and hole transport layers in solar cells. Various strategies have been applied to achieve optimal electrical properties, including base solution post-treatments. However, the working mechanism and the exact details of the structural transformations induced by base post-treatments are still unclear. In this work, we present a comparative study on the post-treatment effects of using three common and green alkali base solutions: namely LiOH, NaOH, and KOH. The structural modifications induced in the film by the base post-treatments are studied by techniques including atomic force microscopy, grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering, ultraviolet–visible-near-infrared spectroscopy, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Base-induced structural modifications are responsible for an improvement in the TE power factor of the films, which depends on the basic solution used. The results are explained on the basis of the different affinity between the alkali cations and the PSS chains, which determines PEDOT dedoping. The results presented here shed light on the structural reorganization occurring in PEDOT:PSS when exposed to high-pH solutions and may serve as inspiration to create future pH-/ion-responsive devices for various applications.
AB - Engineering the electrical properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) holds great potential for various applications such as sensors, thermoelectric (TE) generators, and hole transport layers in solar cells. Various strategies have been applied to achieve optimal electrical properties, including base solution post-treatments. However, the working mechanism and the exact details of the structural transformations induced by base post-treatments are still unclear. In this work, we present a comparative study on the post-treatment effects of using three common and green alkali base solutions: namely LiOH, NaOH, and KOH. The structural modifications induced in the film by the base post-treatments are studied by techniques including atomic force microscopy, grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering, ultraviolet–visible-near-infrared spectroscopy, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Base-induced structural modifications are responsible for an improvement in the TE power factor of the films, which depends on the basic solution used. The results are explained on the basis of the different affinity between the alkali cations and the PSS chains, which determines PEDOT dedoping. The results presented here shed light on the structural reorganization occurring in PEDOT:PSS when exposed to high-pH solutions and may serve as inspiration to create future pH-/ion-responsive devices for various applications.
KW - Alkali base solutions
KW - Grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering
KW - PEDOT:PSS
KW - Post-treatment
KW - Structure-property relationship
KW - Thermoelectric properties
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107031169&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eng.2021.02.011
DO - 10.1016/j.eng.2021.02.011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107031169
SN - 2095-8099
VL - 7
SP - 647
EP - 654
JO - Engineering
JF - Engineering
IS - 5
ER -