LAUSR

Abstract Organic thermoelectric materials have attracted tremendous attention in virtue of their unique advantages including low thermal conductivity, low cost, easy processability and mechanical flexibility. Herein, a series of novel Spiro molecules are designed to be composited with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) as p-type thermoelectric materials. An optimum power factor of 218.6 μW m−1 K−2 is acquired from the SFX-2/SWCNT composite at room temperature. The corresponding flexible thermoelectric generator containing 10p-type legs exhibits an output power of 1.0 μW under a temperature gradient of 60 K. The high thermoelectric performance is attributable to the three dimensional cross-conjugated architecture of the Spiro molecules, which promotes interactions with SWCNT leading to high carrier concentration and moderate carrier mobility in the composite film.