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Sustainable thermoelectric materials fabricated by using Cu2Sn1-xZnxS3 nanoparticles as building blocks.

Authors :
Wei Zhou
Chiko Shijimaya
Mari Takahashi
Masanobu Miyata
Derrick Mott
Mikio Koyano
Michihiro Ohta
Takeo Akatsuka
Hironobu Ono
Shinya Maenosono
Source :
Applied Physics Letters; 12/25/2017, Vol. 111 Issue 26, p1-5, 5p
Publication Year :
2017

Abstract

Uniform Cu<subscript>2</subscript>Sn<subscript>1-x</subscript>Zn<subscript>x</subscript>S<subscript>3</subscript> (x=0-0.2) nanoparticles (NPs) with a characteristic size of about 40 nm were chemically synthesized. The primary crystal phase of the NPs was wurtzite (WZ) with a mean crystalline size of about 20 nm. The NPs were sintered to form nanostructured pellets with different compositions preserving the composition and grain size of the original NPs by the pulse electric current sintering technique. The pellets had a zinc blende (ZB) structure with a residual WZ phase, and the mean crystalline size was found to remain virtually unchanged for all pellets. Among all samples, the pellets of Cu<subscript>2</subscript>Sn<subscript>0.95</subscript>Zn<subscript>0.05</subscript>S<subscript>3</subscript> and Cu<subscript>2</subscript>Sn<subscript>0.85</subscript>Zn<subscript>0.15</subscript>S<subscript>3</subscript> exhibited the highest ZT value (0.37 at 670K) which is 10 times higher than that of a non-nanostructured Cu<subscript>2</subscript>SnS<subscript>3</subscript> bulk crystal thanks to effective phonon scattering by nanograins, the phase-pure ZB crystal structure, and the increase in hole carrier density by Zn doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00036951
Volume :
111
Issue :
26
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Applied Physics Letters
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
127104596
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5009594