A Study on The Seebeck Effect of 3,4,9,10-Perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) as a Novel N-type Material in a Thermoelectric Device Zurianti A. Rahman 1,2,a , Khaulah Sulaiman 1,b , Mohamad Rusop 3,c and Ahmad Shuhaimi 1 1 Low Dimension Materials Research Centre, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 3 NANO-SciTech Centre, Institute Of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. a zuria769@salam.uitm.edu.my, b khaulah@um.edu.my, c rusop@salam.uitm.edu.my, d shuhaimi@um.edu.my Keywords: Thermoelectric; Seebeck coefficient; n-type material; PTCDA Abstract: The studies on the thermoelectric (TE) properties of 3,4,9,10-Perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and a conducting polymer Poly(ethylenedioxythiopene): poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)–PH1000 are presented. PTCDA and PEDOT:PSS have been used as a potential n-type material and a p-type material for the TE device, respectively. The Seebeck coefficients, open circuit voltage and the output power have been obtained for the fabricated TE device. The Seebeck effect was observed on this TE device where the output power in the range of 1 nW/cm 2 to 5 nW/cm 2 ,was successfully deduced from this TE device. It was found that the association of PEDOT:PSS and PTCDA have been acting well in this TE device. However, a higher TE performance, in the future could be developed, by applying a thermal treatment and introducing a suitable dopant to this n-type material which may increase the mobility of the electrons and the Seebeck coefficient. Introduction For a sustainable electricity power, the utilizationof alternative energy resources is crucial. The development of research in thermoelectric materials is also reflected from the rapid growth of technology based on renewable energy forthe green environment. Thermoelectric (TE) effects are produced when the waste heat is converted to electricity using semiconducting materials that possess good thermoelectric properties in a TE device. Presently, the device manufacturer focuses more on environment-friendly and economically efficient products, thus some research on TE has been channeled from inorganic to organic semiconducting materials. A temperature difference across the device is responsible for producing the thermoelectric effect when the n- and p-type carriers diffuses from the hot area to the cold area. The diffused charge carriers that have been collected at the cold side of the TE device results in generating thermoelectric electricity. Due to this effect which involves free charge carriers of both n- and p-types, organic semiconducting material have become the promise of the future with the TE material, since their electrical properties can be adjusted by a doping process. The efficiency of TE materials is determined by the value of the figure-of-merit, ZT as stated in Eq. 1, which depends on the Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical conductivity(σ), thermal conductivities,(κ) and absolute temperature,(T). An efficient high temperature power generation requires a highly effective thermoelectric material with large ZT at a high temperature.  = .  κ  (1) Advanced Materials Research Vol. 667 (2013) pp 165-171 Online available since 2013/Mar/11 at www.scientific.net © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.667.165 All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP, www.ttp.net. (ID: 202.58.86.16, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia-10/04/14,09:11:38)