Highly enhanced thermoelectric properties of p-type CuInSe2 alloys by the Vacancy Doping.

The electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity of the Cu 1−x In 1−y Se 2.05 alloys were investigated, which were synthesized by solid-state reaction method combined with spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. With the increasing of vacancy contents, the electron and phonon scattering were enhanced. The electrical and thermal transport properties of the samples changed accordingly. The Cu 0.99 InSe 2.05 bulk sample achieves the highest ZT value of 0.31 at 773 K due to optimized electrical and thermal transport properties, which is 3 times higher than that of pristine CuInSe 2.05 . Moreover, it is the highest ZT value in CuInSe 2 system in all of previous literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]