High Thermoelectric Performance in Polycrystalline SnSe Via Dual-Doping with Ag/Na and Nanostructuring With Ag8 SnSe6

Luo, Yubo; Cai, Songting; Hua, Xia; Chen, Haijie; Liang, Qinghua; Du, Chengfeng; Zheng, Yun; Shen, Junhua; Xu, Jianwei; Wolverton, Chris; Dravid, Vinayak P.; Yan, Qingyu; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.

doi:10.1002/aenm.201803072

High Thermoelectric Performance in Polycrystalline SnSe Via Dual-Doping with Ag/Na and Nanostructuring With Ag₈ SnSe₆

Journal Article · Wed Nov 28 00:00:00 UTC 2018 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201803072· OSTI ID:1776868

Luo, Yubo ^[1]; Cai, Songting ^[2]; Hua, Xia ^[2]; Chen, Haijie ^[2]; Liang, Qinghua ^[3]; Du, Chengfeng ^[3]; Zheng, Yun ^[4]; Shen, Junhua ^[2]; Xu, Jianwei ^[4]; Wolverton, Chris ^[2]; Dravid, Vinayak P. ^[2]; Yan, Qingyu ^[3]; ^[2]

Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Northwestern University
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore)
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Innovis (Singapore). Institute of Materials Research and Engineering

Single crystalline SnSe is one of the most intriguing new thermoelectric materials but the thermoelectric performance of polycrystalline SnSe seems to lag significantly compared to that of a single crystal. Here an effective strategy for enhancing the thermoelectric performance of p-type polycrystalline SnSe by Ag/Na dual-doping and Ag₈SnSe₆ (STSe) nanoprecipitates is reported. The Ag/Na dual-doping leads to a two orders of magnitude increase in carrier concentration and a convergence of valence bands (VBM1 and VBM5), which in turn results in sharp enhancement of electrical conductivities and high Seebeck coefficients in the Ag/Na dual-doped samples. Additionally, the SnSe matrix becomes nanostructured with dispersed nanoprecipitates of the compound Ag₈SnSe₆, which further strengthens the scattering of phonons. Specifically, ≈20% reduction in the already ultralow lattice thermal conductivity is realized for the Sn_0.99Na_0.01Se–STSe sample at 773 K compared to the thermal conductivity of pure SnSe. Consequently, a peak thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of 1.33 at 773 K with a high average ZT (ZT_ave) value of 0.91 (423–823 K) is achieved for the Sn_0.99Na_0.01Se–STSe sample.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; AC02-06CH11357; SC0014520

OSTI ID:: 1776868

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1483725

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 9; ISSN 1614-6832

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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