Investigation of Thermoelectric Performance of MoS<sub>2</sub>-Templated Polyaniline Nanocomposites

Polyaniline has attracted a lot of attention for thermoelectric (T.E) applications, however their drawback materials is that they possess low power factors than the state-of-the-art materials such as BiTe-based, BiSb-based, PbTe-based, etc. [1-4]. Currently, in order to enhance the T.E properties, hybrids between the polymer and other components such as carbon materials, other polymers, and even inorganic materials are being investigated. In this work, the effect of MoS2 addition on the T.E properties of polyaniline was investigated. The MoS2 nanoflowers were first synthesized via hydrothermal process at 200 °C for 24 hrs after which they were used for templated in situ polymerization of polyaniline. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) image showed that the MoS2 nanoflowers were covered with the polyaniline during the polymerization process and this was confirmed from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis which showed existence of both the polyaniline and MoS2 in the synthesized material. The electrical conductivity of polyaniline was reported to be 10-3 S cm-1 and it was noticed that addition of minute amounts of MoS2 into polyaniline resulted in an enhancement of the electrical conductivities of up to two orders of magnitude. Nanocomposite with 5 % MoS2 (PMX-5) showed optimized power factor values ranging from 6.30 x 10-2 - 1.12 x 10-3 μW m-1 K-2 for the temperature range studied. This study therefore provides a facile approach for synthesis of polyaniline-molybdenum disulphide nanocomposites and the results obtained confirm that transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have a potential for the enhancement of T.E properties of polyaniline.