Fabrication of porous SnS nanosheets and their combination with conductive polymer for hybrid thermoelectric application

Conductive polyaniline (PANI) is incorporated with porous tin sulfide nanosheets (pSnS NSs) to achieve a high-performance thermoelectric material. The SnS NSs are chemically exfoliated from an SnS ingot, thus producing two-dimensional thin structures with sizes from 200 to 500 nm. Numerous pores are introduced into the SnS NSs via solution-phase transformation with the aid of tartaric acid. Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid-doped PANI is coated onto the surface of the pSnS NSs, resulting in the fabrication of an organic/inorganic hybrid thermoelectric material. The thermoelectric power factor (σ·S2) of the PANI-coated pSnS NSs (PANI-pSnS NSs) is optimized by controlling the number of PANI coatings, and the thermoelectric properties of the PANI-pSnS NSs are investigated and discussed as a function of the carrier transport properties. The PANI-pSnS NS sample coated twice with PANI produces an outstanding ZT of 0.078 at 450 K, which is significantly higher than that of the pristine pSnS NSs. This study demonstrates the utility of combining pSnS NSs and conductive PANI to achieve high-performance materials for thermoelectric applications.