Loading…

Recent Developments of n‐Type Organic Thermoelectric Materials: Influence of Structure Modification on Molecule Arrangement and Solution Processing

Organic semiconductor (OSCs) thermoelectric materials have been studied widely due to their low thermal conductivity and solution processing characteristics. Currently, the high conductivity (up to 1000 s cm−1) has boosted the performance of p‐type organic thermoelectric materials substantially. In...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:ChemSusChem 2022-02, Vol.15 (4), p.e202102420-n/a
Main Authors: Wang, Jing, Liu, Liang, Wu, Feiyan, Liu, Zuoji, Fan, Zhiping, Chen, Lie, Chen, Yiwang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Organic semiconductor (OSCs) thermoelectric materials have been studied widely due to their low thermal conductivity and solution processing characteristics. Currently, the high conductivity (up to 1000 s cm−1) has boosted the performance of p‐type organic thermoelectric materials substantially. In contrast, the development of n‐type organic thermoelectric materials is still limited by their low mobility, inferior air stability, and poor doping efficiency, which is relevant to the molecule structure and dopant dispersion. Herein, the recent development of n‐type organic thermoelectric materials was reviewed with an emphasis on molecule structure modification and solution processing. Methods for optimizing conjugate structure were summarized from the effects of conjugated backbone modification and side chains diversification on molecular stacking. The primary n‐type dopants were also summarized briefly. Especially, the role of solution aggregation controlling on film preparation and properties was given special attention. Additionally, the emergence of organic diradicals with low lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level and no doping was introduced, which shows great potential in n‐type organic thermoelectric materials. All these endeavors have led to the development of n‐type OSCs materials. This Review is aimed at illustrating the state‐of‐the‐art progress and providing some guideline for the design of organic thermoelectric materials in the future. Molecular design: The development of n‐type organic thermoelectric (OTE) materials is still limited by poor air stability and low doping efficiency. Here, the influence of molecular design on polymer film microstructure is reviewed. Both main chain and side chain play an important role in microstructure, and the influence of dopant structure on doping efficiency is briefly described. Finally, the development of diradicals with low lowest unoccupied molecular orbital and high conductivity in OTE materials is summarized.
ISSN:1864-5631
1864-564X
DOI:10.1002/cssc.202102420