Tuning the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of self-standing stretchable PEDOT:PSS/SDBS films

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has recently attracted significant attention as a potential candidate for small-scale thermoelectric conversion because of its ease of doping, and solution processability. This study addressed the fabrication of self-standing PEDOT:PSS films modified with sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) surfactant, presuming different annealing temperatures. According to the investigation, optimizing the annealing temperature improves crystal quality and increases the efficiency of PEDOT:PSS films. The resulting PEDOT:PSS films showed the highest electrical conductivity of about 623.68 Scm(-1) and maximum power factor of 25.87 mu Wm(-1) K-2. In addition to confirming thermoelectric properties; SDBS surfactants are being investigated to plasticize PEDOT:PSS films at different concentrations and annealing temperatures. With an optimization in annealing temperature, the elongation at break value similarly improves; and the highest elongation at break was observed at 0.94 wt% SDBS concentration, reaching 32%. To completely understand the underlying reasons for this dependence, higher-order structures and electronic states of polymer films have been examined using electronic reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Overall, the outcomes of this work show how important surfactants and their annealing temperature are for improving the mechanical and thermoelectric characteristics of self-standing PEDOT:PSS films.