The relationship between the conformation of a polyelectrolyte and the performance of organic thermoelectric multilayers was studied. The conformational change of a weak polyelectrolyte via controlling assembling pH gave rise to a different thermoelectric behaviour in thin films. Organic thermoelectric multilayers were fabricated by alternately depositing bilayers (BL) of a positively-charged polyaniline (PANi) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT), stabilized in poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), via a layer-by-layer assembly technique. The electrical conductivity and See-beck coefficient of PANi/MWNT-PAA nanocomposites were measured by varying assembly pH of PAA solutions. Altering the deposition pH of PAA resulted in different thermoelectric performances. A 40 BL thin film (∼210 nm thick) of PANi/MWNT-PAA assembled at pH 2.5/6.5 exhibited electrical conductivity of 95.2 S/cm and a Seebeck coefficient of 35 µV/K. This translates to a power factor of 11.7 µW/m·K², which is 50 times higher than that of the same film with all components deposited at pH 2.5. Enhancement of thermoelectric behaviour in PANi/MWNT-PAA nanocomposites is attributed to a conjugated π-π network, together with a tightly packed nanostructure.

研究了聚电解质的构象与有机热电多层膜性能之间的关系。通过控制组装pH值，弱聚电解质的构象变化导致薄膜中不同的热电行为。有机热电多层是由带正电荷的聚苯胺交替沉积双层（BL）（PANI）和多壁碳纳米管（MWNT），在聚（丙烯酸）稳定（PAA）制成，通过逐层组装技术。通过改变PAA溶液的组装pH值来测量PANi / MWNT-PAA纳米复合材料的电导率和See-beck系数。改变PAA的沉积pH导致不同的热电性能。在pH 2.5 / 6.5下组装的PANi / MWNT-PAA的40 BL薄膜（约210 nm厚）的电导率为95.2 S / cm，塞贝克系数为35 µV / K。这意味着功率因数为11.7 µW / m·K ²，比所有薄膜在pH 2.5时沉积的同一薄膜的功率因数高50倍。PANi / MWNT-PAA纳米复合材料中热电行为的增强归因于共轭π-π网络以及紧密堆积的纳米结构。