High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride

He, Ying; Zhang, Tiansong; Shi, Xun; Wei, Su-Huai; Chen, Lidong

doi:10.1038/am.2015.91

Title: High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride

Journal Article · Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · NPG Asia Materials (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/am.2015.91· OSTI ID:1226154

He, Ying ^[1]; Zhang, Tiansong ^[2]; Shi, Xun ^[2]; Wei, Su-Huai ^[3]; Chen, Lidong ^[2]

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Recently, Cu _2-δS and Cu _2-δ Se were reported to have an ultralow thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric figure of merit zT. Thus, as a member of the copper chalcogenide group, Cu _2-δ Te is expected to possess superior zTs because Te is less ionic and heavy. However, the zT value is low in the Cu₂Te sintered using spark plasma sintering, which is typically used to fabricate high-density bulk samples. In addition, the extra sintering processes may change the samples’ compositions as well as their physical properties, especially for Cu₂Te, which has many stable and meta-stable phases as well as weaker ionic bonding between Cu and Te as compared with Cu₂S and Cu₂Se. In this study, high-density Cu₂Te samples were obtained using direct annealing without a sintering process. In the absence of sintering processes, the samples’ compositions could be well controlled, leading to substantially reduced carrier concentrations that are close to the optimal value. The electrical transports were optimized, and the thermal conductivity was considerably reduced. The zT values were significantly improved—to 1.1 at 1000 K—which is nearly 100% improvement. Furthermore, this method saves substantial time and cost during the sample’s growth. The study demonstrates that Cu _2-δ X (X=S, Se and Te) is the only existing system to show high zTs in the series of compounds composed of three sequential primary group elements.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1226154

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-65307

Journal Information:: NPG Asia Materials (Online), Vol. 7; Related Information: NPG Asia Materials; ISSN 1884-4057

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group AsiaCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 156 works

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Title: High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride

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