Simultaneous improvement in electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of PEDOT:PSS by N pressure-induced nitric acid treatment.

As a thermoelectric (TE) material suited to applications for recycling waste-heat into electricity through the Seebeck effect, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) is of great interest. Our research demonstrates a comprehensive study of different post-treatment methods with nitric acid (HNO) to enhance the thermoelectric properties of PEDOT:PSS. The optimum conditions are obtained when PEDOT:PSS is treated with HNO for 10 min at room temperature followed by passing nitrogen gas (N) with a pressure of 0.