Pi-Conjugated Acceptors for the generation of new n-type thermoelectric materials – Pi-CANTHERM

The use of renewable energy sources is becoming unavoidable and of primal importance owing to the shortage of fossil fuel reserves in addition to the global warming. Driven by the continuously increasing demand for distributed energy, electricity harvesting from renewable, versatile and abundant heat resources has seen an ever growing interest in the last decade. The Pi-CANTHERM project fits into this context insofar as it aims to develop new n-type organic thermoelectric materials, capable of converting thermal energy into electrical energy (Seebeck effect). The targeted state-of-the-art organic materials will be elaborated from rationally designed pi-conjugated small molecules, built from selected electron Donor and Acceptor units. The structural, electronic and thermoelectric properties of the produced materials will be thoroughly evaluated, and the most efficient materials will be integrated into uni-leg thermoelectric module demonstrators.