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Reducing thermal transport in electrically conducting polymers: Effects of ordered mixing of polymer chains
Applied Physics Letters
  • Souvik Pal, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • Ganesh Balasubramanian, Iowa State University
  • Ishwar K. Puri, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2013
DOI
10.1063/1.4776676
Abstract

Reducing the phonon thermal conductivity of electrically conducting polymers can facilitate their use as potential thermoelectric materials. Thus, the influence of the coupling between the longitudinal and transverse phonon modes on overall thermal conductivity is explored for binary mixtures of polyaniline (PANI) and polyacetylene (PA) chains by considering various geometricpolymer mixture configurations. The molecular simulations reveal that an increase in the interfacial area available for transverse interactions between dissimilar chains enhances atomic interactions that are orthogonal to the heat transfer direction. As transverse collisions between PA and PANI chains are enhanced, the motion of longitudinal phonons is disrupted, impeding thermal transport. This enhances phonon scattering and reduces longitudinal thermal transport. While there is a nonlinear decrease in the phonon thermal conductivity with increasing interfacial contact area, there is a corresponding linear growth in the nonbonded interaction energies between the different polymers.

Comments

The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 102 (2013): 023109. doi:10.1063/1.4776676.

Rights
Copyright 2013 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.
Copyright Owner
American Institute of Physics
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Souvik Pal, Ganesh Balasubramanian and Ishwar K. Puri. "Reducing thermal transport in electrically conducting polymers: Effects of ordered mixing of polymer chains" Applied Physics Letters Vol. 102 Iss. 2 (2013) p. 023109
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ganesh_balasubramanian/3/