Irradiation Effect in Thermoelectric Polymer Polyaniline Induced by High-Energy Electron Beam

A comprehensive investigation was conducted on the relationships between molecular structure, morphology and thermoelectric properties of HCl-doped polyaniline (PANi) nanorods subjected to 10MeV electron beam irradiation. Morphological and structural characterization revealed that the crystallinity of irradiated PANi nanorods remained almost unchanged, and minimal oxygen content was detected. This resulted in minimal alterations to the thermo-stability. In addition, the thermoelectric properties of PANi were enhanced. A maximum conductivity of 22.85S/cm was obtained at 50kGy, which was 1.46 times that of pristine PANi. Interestingly, the Seebeck coefficient reached a maximum of -3.56 mu V/K at 100kGy, indicating n-type organic semiconductor properties. However, a peak power factor of 0.024 mu W m(-1) K-2 was achieved with 60kGy irradiation, which was slightly enhanced compared to 0.018 mu W m(-1) K-2 for pristine PANi. These results demonstrate that PANi exhibits good irradiation resistance after irradiated with a dose of 100kGy. Thus, PANi could be used in high-beta ray (electron) environments, such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).