Thermoelectric properties of Cu2Se1-: XTex solid solutions

Kunpeng Zhao; Mengjia Guan; Pengfei Qiu; Anders B. Blichfeld; Espen Eikeland; Chenxi Zhu; Dudi Ren; Fangfang Xu; Bo B. Iversen; Xun Shi; Lidong Chen

doi:10.1039/c8ta01313f

Thermoelectric properties of Cu₂Se_{1-: X}Te_x solid solutions

Kunpeng Zhao, Mengjia Guan, Pengfei Qiu, Anders B. Blichfeld, Espen Eikeland, Chenxi Zhu, Dudi Ren, Fangfang Xu, Bo B. Iversen, Xun Shi^*, Lidong Chen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

78 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Binary Cu₂Se and Cu₂Te have gained great attention recently because of their interesting and abnormal physical properties, such as ultralow thermal conductivity, high carrier mobility, large effective mass of carriers and excellent thermoelectric performance. In this study, we find that these two compounds are completely miscible throughout the studied composition range. The trigonal structure of Cu₂Se is maintained when the Te content x is 0.2, but a new trigonal structure is formed when the Te content x is between 0.3 and 0.7. The carrier concentration is greatly improved when increasing the Te content in Cu₂Se_1-xTe_x solid solutions, resulting in a much reduced electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient in the whole temperature range as compared with those of binary Cu₂Se. The total thermal conductivity is inversely increased due to the contribution from enhanced carrier thermal conductivity. As a result, the overall thermoelectric performance of Cu₂Se_1-xTe_x solid solutions lies between Cu₂Se and Cu₂Te. We also find that the quality factor of Cu₂Se_1-xTe_x is higher than those of most typical thermoelectric materials. Thus the thermoelectric performance can be further improved if the intrinsically high hole carrier concentrations can be reduced in Cu₂Se_1-xTe_x.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume	6
Issue	16
Pages (from-to)	6977-6986
Number of pages	10
ISSN	2050-7488
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ta01313f
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2018

Access to Document

10.1039/c8ta01313f

Cite this

@article{bd3312789cfc4044b1f529dcba177fc1,

title = "Thermoelectric properties of Cu2Se1-: XTex solid solutions",

abstract = "Binary Cu2Se and Cu2Te have gained great attention recently because of their interesting and abnormal physical properties, such as ultralow thermal conductivity, high carrier mobility, large effective mass of carriers and excellent thermoelectric performance. In this study, we find that these two compounds are completely miscible throughout the studied composition range. The trigonal structure of Cu2Se is maintained when the Te content x is 0.2, but a new trigonal structure is formed when the Te content x is between 0.3 and 0.7. The carrier concentration is greatly improved when increasing the Te content in Cu2Se1-xTex solid solutions, resulting in a much reduced electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient in the whole temperature range as compared with those of binary Cu2Se. The total thermal conductivity is inversely increased due to the contribution from enhanced carrier thermal conductivity. As a result, the overall thermoelectric performance of Cu2Se1-xTex solid solutions lies between Cu2Se and Cu2Te. We also find that the quality factor of Cu2Se1-xTex is higher than those of most typical thermoelectric materials. Thus the thermoelectric performance can be further improved if the intrinsically high hole carrier concentrations can be reduced in Cu2Se1-xTex.",

author = "Kunpeng Zhao and Mengjia Guan and Pengfei Qiu and Blichfeld, {Anders B.} and Espen Eikeland and Chenxi Zhu and Dudi Ren and Fangfang Xu and Iversen, {Bo B.} and Xun Shi and Lidong Chen",

year = "2018",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1039/c8ta01313f",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

pages = "6977--6986",

journal = "Journal of Materials Chemistry A",

issn = "2050-7488",

publisher = "Royal Society of Chemistry",

number = "16",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Thermoelectric properties of Cu2Se1-: XTex solid solutions

AU - Zhao, Kunpeng

AU - Guan, Mengjia

AU - Qiu, Pengfei

AU - Blichfeld, Anders B.

AU - Eikeland, Espen

AU - Zhu, Chenxi

AU - Ren, Dudi

AU - Xu, Fangfang

AU - Iversen, Bo B.

AU - Shi, Xun

AU - Chen, Lidong

PY - 2018/1/1

Y1 - 2018/1/1

N2 - Binary Cu2Se and Cu2Te have gained great attention recently because of their interesting and abnormal physical properties, such as ultralow thermal conductivity, high carrier mobility, large effective mass of carriers and excellent thermoelectric performance. In this study, we find that these two compounds are completely miscible throughout the studied composition range. The trigonal structure of Cu2Se is maintained when the Te content x is 0.2, but a new trigonal structure is formed when the Te content x is between 0.3 and 0.7. The carrier concentration is greatly improved when increasing the Te content in Cu2Se1-xTex solid solutions, resulting in a much reduced electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient in the whole temperature range as compared with those of binary Cu2Se. The total thermal conductivity is inversely increased due to the contribution from enhanced carrier thermal conductivity. As a result, the overall thermoelectric performance of Cu2Se1-xTex solid solutions lies between Cu2Se and Cu2Te. We also find that the quality factor of Cu2Se1-xTex is higher than those of most typical thermoelectric materials. Thus the thermoelectric performance can be further improved if the intrinsically high hole carrier concentrations can be reduced in Cu2Se1-xTex.

AB - Binary Cu2Se and Cu2Te have gained great attention recently because of their interesting and abnormal physical properties, such as ultralow thermal conductivity, high carrier mobility, large effective mass of carriers and excellent thermoelectric performance. In this study, we find that these two compounds are completely miscible throughout the studied composition range. The trigonal structure of Cu2Se is maintained when the Te content x is 0.2, but a new trigonal structure is formed when the Te content x is between 0.3 and 0.7. The carrier concentration is greatly improved when increasing the Te content in Cu2Se1-xTex solid solutions, resulting in a much reduced electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient in the whole temperature range as compared with those of binary Cu2Se. The total thermal conductivity is inversely increased due to the contribution from enhanced carrier thermal conductivity. As a result, the overall thermoelectric performance of Cu2Se1-xTex solid solutions lies between Cu2Se and Cu2Te. We also find that the quality factor of Cu2Se1-xTex is higher than those of most typical thermoelectric materials. Thus the thermoelectric performance can be further improved if the intrinsically high hole carrier concentrations can be reduced in Cu2Se1-xTex.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85045971164&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1039/c8ta01313f

DO - 10.1039/c8ta01313f

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85045971164

SN - 2050-7488

VL - 6

SP - 6977

EP - 6986

JO - Journal of Materials Chemistry A

JF - Journal of Materials Chemistry A

IS - 16

ER -

Thermoelectric properties of Cu₂Se_{1-: X}Te_x solid solutions

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this