PbS-Pb-CuxS Composites for Thermoelectric Application

Band Engineering Through Pb-Doping of Nanocrystal Building Blocks to Enhance Thermoelectric Performance in Cu3 SbSe4

Developing cost-effective and high-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials to assemble efficient TE devices presents a multitude of challenges and opportunities. Cu3 SbSe4 is a promising p-type TE material based on relatively earth abundant elements. However, the challenge lies in its poor electrical conductivity. Herein, an efficient and scalable solution-based approach is developed to synthesize high-quality Cu3 SbSe4 nanocrystals doped with Pb at the Sb site. After ligand displacement and annealing treatments, the dried powders are consolidated into dense pellets, and their TE properties are investigated. Pb doping effectively increases the charge carrier concentration, resulting in a significant increase in electrical conductivity, while the Seebeck coefficients remain consistently high. The calculated band structure shows that Pb doping induces band convergence, thereby increasing the effective mass. Furthermore, the large ionic radius of Pb2+ results in the generation of additional point and plane defects and interphases, dramatically enhancing phonon scattering, which significantly decreases the lattice thermal conductivity at high temperatures. Overall, a maximum figure of merit (zTmax ) ≈ 0.85 at 653 K is obtained in Cu3 Sb0.97 Pb0.03 Se4 . This represents a 1.6-fold increase compared to the undoped sample and exceeds most doped Cu3 SbSe4 -based materials produced by solid-state, demonstrating advantages of versatility and cost-effectiveness using a solution-based technology.

Green Synthesis and Morphological Evolution for Bi2Te3 Nanosystems via a PVP-Assisted Hydrothermal Method

Bi2Te3 has been extensively used because of its excellent thermoelectric properties at room temperature. Here, 230-420 nm of Bi2Te3 hexagonal nanosheets has been successfully synthesized via a "green" method by using ethylene glycol solution and applying polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as a surfactant. In addition, factors influencing morphological evolution are discussed in detail in this study. Among these parameters, the reaction temperature, molar mass of NaOH, different surfactants, and reaction duration are considered as the most essential. The results show that the existence of PVP is vital to the formation of a plate-like morphology. The reaction temperature and alkaline surroundings played essential roles in the formation of Bi2Te3 single crystals. By spark plasma sintering, the Bi2Te3 hexagonal nanosheets were hot pressed into solid-state samples. We also studied the transport properties of solid-state samples. The electrical conductivity σ was 18.5 × 103 Sm-1 to 28.69 × 103 Sm-1, and the Seebeck coefficient S was -90.4 to -113.3 µVK-1 over a temperature range of 300-550 K. In conclusion, the observation above could serve as a catalyst for future exploration into photocatalysis, solar cells, nonlinear optics, thermoelectric generators, and ultraviolet selective photodetectors of Bi2Te3 nanosheet-based photodetectors.