Abstract:

Devices made of thermoelectric materials can realize the interconversion between heat and electricity， which is based on the Seebeck effect and the Peltier effect respectively， without any moving elements. Different from conventional metallic and inorganic thermoelectric materials， thermoelectric polymer composites possess good flexibility， decent stretchability， and healing ability， thus arousing ever-increasing interests among researchers because they are abundant， inexpensive， light-weighted， low-toxic or non-toxic， and thermally less conductive. Generally， thermoelectric polymer composites comprise nanomaterials which are usually carbon nanotubes， graphene， metal organic frameworks， MXenes， black phosphorus， etc. and conductive polymers which are typically polythiophene and its derivatives， polyaniline， and polypyrrole. Apart from traditional use of generating electricity from heat for thermoelectric materials， polymer composites acting as an indispensable complement to inorganic thermoelectric materials have combined advantages of conductive polymers and nanomaterials and are finding new applications in various sensors although their performance in certain aspects remains below that of conventional metallic and inorganic thermoelectric materials. New toolkits like artificial intelligence and machine learning have been introduced as effective ways in facilitating efficient design， preparation， and performance enhancement of thermoelectric polymer composites. It is expected that thermoelectric polymer composites will make great progress and demonstrate many broader application scenarios.

Key words: polymer composites, thermoelectric properties, Seebeck effect, Peltier effect