Decoupling the Conductivity–Seebeck Trade‐Off in N‐Type MXene/Conjugated Polyelectrolyte Thermoelectric Bilayers

ABSTRACT To decouple the Seebeck coefficient from electrical conductivity in metallic thermoelectric (TE) systems, we investigated bilayer heterostructures of MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) and conjugated polymers with anionic (–SO 3– Na + , CPE‐Na), neutral (CP), and cationic (–N + (CH 3 ) 3 Br–, CPE‐Br) side chains. Strong electrostatic anchoring between the cationic ammonium side chains and electronegative MXene terminations induces a previously unreported Coulombic trap‐induced filtering mechanism, distinct from conventional energy filtering. The resulting localized potential wells selectively trap low‐energy carriers to enhance the Seebeck coefficient, while concurrent lattice stiffening suppresses electron–phonon scattering and preserves high‐energy carrier transport. This decoupling raises Hall mobility from 1.01 to 5.40 cm 2 V −1 s −1 and the Seebeck coefficient from –8.6 to –19.0 µV K −1 while maintaining a metallic conductivity of 5291.9 S cm −1 . The optimized MXene/CPE‐Br film, processed with a halogen‐free solvent, achieves a record power factor of 190.5 µW m −1 K −2 and a peak figure of merit ( zT ) of 0.0279. Strong interfacial adhesion further imparts good electromechanical durability under repeated bending to a flexible TE generator, providing an effective strategy to address the transport limitations of n‐type MXene‐based TE materials.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-10-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.79006
Primary Topic
Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Decoupling the Conductivity–Seebeck Trade‐Off in N‐Type MXene/Conjugated Polyelectrolyte Thermoelectric Bilayers

Yu‐Jane Sheng, Cheng‐Liang Liu, Tzu-Ling Ma, Han Young Woo et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
article

Decoupling the Conductivity–Seebeck Trade‐Off in N‐Type MXene/Conjugated Polyelectrolyte Thermoelectric Bilayers

Yu‐Jane Sheng, Cheng‐Liang Liu, Tzu-Ling Ma, Han Young Woo, Haim Kwon, Tsu‐Ting Lu, Min‐Chi Fu, Xiang‐Ren Chen
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT To decouple the Seebeck coefficient from electrical conductivity in metallic thermoelectric (TE) systems, we investigated bilayer heterostructures of MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) and conjugated polymers with anionic (–SO 3– Na + , CPE‐Na), neutral (CP), and cationic (–N + (CH 3 ) 3 Br–, CPE‐Br) side chains. Strong electrostatic anchoring between the cationic ammonium side chains and electronegative MXene terminations induces a previously unreported Coulombic trap‐induced filtering mechanism, distinct from conventional energy filtering. The resulting localized potential wells selectively trap low‐energy carriers to enhance the Seebeck coefficient, while concurrent lattice stiffening suppresses electron–phonon scattering and preserves high‐energy carrier transport. This decoupling raises Hall mobility from 1.01 to 5.40 cm 2 V −1 s −1 and the Seebeck coefficient from –8.6 to –19.0 µV K −1 while maintaining a metallic conductivity of 5291.9 S cm −1 . The optimized MXene/CPE‐Br film, processed with a halogen‐free solvent, achieves a record power factor of 190.5 µW m −1 K −2 and a peak figure of merit ( zT ) of 0.0279. Strong interfacial adhesion further imparts good electromechanical durability under repeated bending to a flexible TE generator, providing an effective strategy to address the transport limitations of n‐type MXene‐based TE materials.

Advanced Functional Materials
National Taiwan University (TW), Korea University (KR)
National Science and Technology Council, Ministry of Education, National Research Foundation of Korea, National Taiwan University, National Science and Technology Council
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 28%
Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
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