Effect of Sn oxides on the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline SnSe

Isotta, Eleonora; Toriyama, Michael Y.; Adekoya, Adetoye H.; Shupp, Emily; Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Zevalkink, Alexandra

doi:10.1016/j.mtphys.2023.100967

Effect of Sn oxides on the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline SnSe

Journal Article · Thu Jan 05 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Materials Today Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtphys.2023.100967· OSTI ID:2421062

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Shupp, Emily ^[3]; Snyder, G. Jeffrey ^[2]; ^[3]

Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States); OSTI
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)

SnSe is a promising thermoelectric material, with intrinsically low lattice thermal conductivity, κL. Surprisingly, in several reports, polycrystalline samples are found to have a higher thermal conductivity than single crystals. This disparity has been attributed to trace amounts of thermally conductive Sn oxides at the grain boundaries of polycrystalline samples. The same culprit was recently proposed to explain the reduction of κL in purified, oxide-free, SnSe polycrystals. Here, we test this hypothesis by: (i) tuning the type of oxide in SnSe by exploiting thermodynamic stability regions, since Sn-rich or Sn-poor compositions favour the formation of SnO or SnO₂, respectively; and (ii) varying the quantity of SnO₂ by intentionally oxidizing SnSe powder before consolidation, to obtain samples with quantifiable amounts - up to 15% - of SnO₂. We find that the κL of SnSe is impervious to changes in the type or the amount of Sn oxide present in the samples. Our results show that a simple “rule of mixtures” cannot be used to estimate the effect of grain boundary oxides on the thermal conductivity of SnSe. These results call for an improved understanding of the intriguing thermal transport mechanisms in SnSe and numerous other systems where a two-phase transport is presumed.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Krell Institute, Ames, IA (United States); Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0019252; SC0020347

OSTI ID:: 2421062

Journal Information:: Materials Today Physics, Journal Name: Materials Today Physics Journal Issue: C Vol. 31; ISSN 2542-5293

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (47)

Understanding of the Extremely Low Thermal Conductivity in High-Performance Polycrystalline SnSe through Potassium Doping Chen, Yue-Xing; Ge, Zhen-Hua; Yin, Meijie Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 26, Issue 37 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201602652	journal	August 2016
Studies on Thermoelectric Properties of n-type Polycrystalline SnSe _{1- x} S _x by Iodine Doping Zhang, Qian; Chere, Eyob Kebede; Sun, Jingying Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201500360	journal	April 2015
Realizing High‐Ranged Out‐of‐Plane ZTs in N‐Type SnSe Crystals through Promoting Continuous Phase Transition Chang, Cheng; Wang, Dongyang; He, Dongsheng Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 28 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201901334	journal	June 2019
Neutron diffraction study of the structural phase transition in SnS and SnSe Chattopadhyay, T.; Pannetier, J.; Von Schnering, H. G. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, Vol. 47, Issue 9, p. 879-885 https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3697(86)90059-4	journal	January 1986
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set Kresse, G.; Furthmüller, J. Computational Materials Science, Vol. 6, Issue 1, p. 15-50 https://doi.org/10.1016/0927-0256(96)00008-0	journal	July 1996
Influence of grain size on the thermal conductivity of tin oxide ceramics Fayette, Sylvain; Smith, David. S.; Smith, Agnès Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 20, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0955-2219(99)00171-5	journal	March 2000
Effects of Sn-deficiency on thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline Sn1-Se compounds Lee, Sang Tae; Kim, Min Ji; Lee, Gil-Geun Current Applied Physics, Vol. 17, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cap.2017.02.007	journal	May 2017
High-temperature oxidation behavior of thermoelectric SnSe Li, Yi; He, Bin; Heremans, Joseph P. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 669 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2016.01.258	journal	June 2016
Thermal conductivity of pressed powder compacts: tin oxide and alumina Poulier, C.; Smith, D. S.; Absi, J. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 27, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2006.04.068	journal	January 2007
Surface Oxide Removal for Polycrystalline SnSe Reveals Near-Single-Crystal Thermoelectric Performance Lee, Yong Kyu; Luo, Zhongzhen; Cho, Sung Pyo Joule, Vol. 3, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2019.01.001	journal	March 2019
Direct observation of vast off-stoichiometric defects in single crystalline SnSe Wu, Di; Wu, Lijun; He, Dongsheng Nano Energy, Vol. 35 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.04.004	journal	May 2017
Effective atomic interface engineering in Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 thermoelectric material by atomic-layer-deposition approach Li, Shuankui; Liu, Yidong; Liu, Fusheng Nano Energy, Vol. 49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.04.047	journal	July 2018
Enhancement of Thermoelectric Performance of Layered SnSe₂ by Synergistic Modulation of Carrier Concentration and Suppression of Lattice Thermal Conductivity Wu, Shaohai; Yang, Hengquan; Wu, Zhengsen ACS Applied Energy Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.9b01399	journal	November 2019
Gigantic Phonon-Scattering Cross Section To Enhance Thermoelectric Performance in Bulk Crystals Hwang, Junphil; Kim, Hoon; Han, Mi-Kyung ACS Nano, Vol. 13, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b03805	journal	July 2019
Nanoscale Thermal Management of Single SnO₂ Nanowire: pico-Joule Energy Consumed Molecule Sensor Meng, Gang; Zhuge, Fuwei; Nagashima, Kazuki ACS Sensors, Vol. 1, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.6b00364	journal	July 2016
Achieving High Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in Polycrystalline SnSe via Introducing Sn Vacancies Wei, Wei; Chang, Cheng; Yang, Teng Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 140, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b11875	journal	December 2017
Thermal Conductivity of Nanocrystalline Silicon: Importance of Grain Size and Frequency-Dependent Mean Free Paths Wang, Zhaojie; Alaniz, Joseph E.; Jang, Wanyoung Nano Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl1045395	journal	June 2011
The ugly duckling Heremans, Joseph P. Nature, Vol. 508, Issue 7496 https://doi.org/10.1038/508327a	journal	April 2014
Ultralow thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric figure of merit in SnSe crystals Zhao, Li-Dong; Lo, Shih-Han; Zhang, Yongsheng Nature, Vol. 508, Issue 7496, p. 373-377 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13184	journal	April 2014
The intrinsic thermal conductivity of SnSe Wei, Pai-Chun; Bhattacharya, S.; He, J. Nature, Vol. 539, Issue 7627 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19832	journal	November 2016
Orbitally driven giant phonon anharmonicity in SnSe Li, C. W.; Hong, J.; May, A. F. Nature Physics, Vol. 11, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3492	journal	October 2015
Polycrystalline SnSe with a thermoelectric figure of merit greater than the single crystal Zhou, Chongjian; Lee, Yong Kyu; Yu, Yuan Nature Materials, Vol. 20, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01064-6	journal	August 2021
Breaking thermoelectric performance limits Iversen, Bo Brummerstedt Nature Materials, Vol. 20, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01065-5	journal	August 2021
Measuring thermoelectric transport properties of materials Borup, Kasper A.; de Boor, Johannes; Wang, Heng Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 8, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4EE01320D	journal	January 2015
SnSe: a remarkable new thermoelectric material Zhao, Li-Dong; Chang, Cheng; Tan, Gangjian Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 9, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6EE01755J	journal	January 2016
SnO as a potential oxide thermoelectric candidate Miller, Samuel A.; Gorai, Prashun; Aydemir, Umut Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Vol. 5, Issue 34 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7TC01623A	journal	January 2017
Zr vacancy interfaces: an effective strategy for collaborative optimization of ZrNiSn-based thermoelectric performance Zhang, Yihua; Li, Shuankui; Liu, Fusheng Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 45 https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TA09550K	journal	January 2019
Precision grain boundary engineering in commercial Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 thermoelectric materials towards high performance Li, Shuankui; Huang, Zhongyuan; Wang, Rui Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 9, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TA01016F	journal	January 2021
Assessment of the thermoelectric performance of polycrystalline p-type SnSe Sassi, S.; Candolfi, C.; Vaney, J.-B. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 21, Article No. 212105 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4880817	journal	May 2014
Low thermal conductivity and triaxial phononic anisotropy of SnSe Carrete, Jesús; Mingo, Natalio; Curtarolo, Stefano Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4895770	journal	September 2014
Characterization of Lorenz number with Seebeck coefficient measurement Kim, Hyun-Sik; Gibbs, Zachary M.; Tang, Yinglu APL Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4908244	journal	April 2015
Reinvestigation of the thermal properties of single-crystalline SnSe Ibrahim, D.; Vaney, J. -B.; Sassi, S. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4974348	journal	January 2017
Thermal conductivity of SnO ₂ single crystals Turkes, P.; Pluntke, Ch; Helbig, R. Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3719/13/26/015	journal	September 1980
Anisotropic elasticity drives negative thermal expansion in monocrystalline SnSe Karunarathne, Ashoka; Parajuli, Prakash; Priyadarshan, Gautam Physical Review B, Vol. 103, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.054108	journal	February 2021
Projector augmented-wave method Blöchl, P. E. Physical Review B, Vol. 50, Issue 24, p. 17953-17979 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.50.17953	journal	December 1994
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set Kresse, G.; Furthmüller, J. Physical Review B, Vol. 54, Issue 16, p. 11169-11186 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.54.11169	journal	October 1996
Correcting density functional theory for accurate predictions of compound enthalpies of formation: Fitted elemental-phase reference energies Stevanović, Vladan; Lany, Stephan; Zhang, Xiuwen Physical Review B, Vol. 85, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.115104	journal	March 2012
Origin of low thermal conductivity in SnSe Xiao, Yu; Chang, Cheng; Pei, Yanling Physical Review B, Vol. 94, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.125203	journal	September 2016
Phonon Collapse and Second-Order Phase Transition in Thermoelectric SnSe Aseginolaza, Unai; Bianco, Raffaello; Monacelli, Lorenzo Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.075901	journal	February 2019
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple Perdew, John P.; Burke, Kieron; Ernzerhof, Matthias Physical Review Letters, Vol. 77, Issue 18, p. 3865-3868 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.3865	journal	October 1996
Magnetism without Magnetic Ions: Percolation, Exchange, and Formation Energies of Magnetism-Promoting Intrinsic Defects in CaO Osorio-Guillén, J.; Lany, S.; Barabash, S. V. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.107203	journal	March 2006
TOPAS and TOPAS-Academic : an optimization program integrating computer algebra and crystallographic objects written in C++ Coelho, Alan A. Journal of Applied Crystallography, Vol. 51, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576718000183	journal	February 2018
Comparison of Two-Phase Thermal Conductivity Models with Experiments on Dilute Ceramic Composites Angle, Jesse P.; Wang, Zhaojie; Dames, Chris Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 96, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.12488	journal	August 2013
Ultrahigh power factor and thermoelectric performance in hole-doped single-crystal SnSe Zhao, L.-D.; Tan, G.; Hao, S. Science, Vol. 351, Issue 6269, p. 141-144 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad3749	journal	November 2015
3D charge and 2D phonon transports leading to high out-of-plane ZT in n-type SnSe crystals Chang, Cheng; Wu, Minghui; He, Dongsheng Science, Vol. 360, Issue 6390 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq1479	journal	May 2018
High thermoelectric performance realized through manipulating layered phonon-electron decoupling Su, Lizhong; Wang, Dongyang; Wang, Sining Science, Vol. 375, Issue 6587 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn8997	journal	March 2022
Structure and temperature transformation of SnSe. Stabilization of a new cubic phase Sn4Bi2Se7 Adouby, K.; Pérez-Vicente, C.; Jumas, J. C. Zeitschrift für Kristallographie - Crystalline Materials, Vol. 213, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1524/zkri.1998.213.6.343	journal	January 1998

Similar Records

Polycrystalline SnSe with a thermoelectric figure of merit greater than the single crystal

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 20:00:00 EDT 2021 · Nature Materials · OSTI ID:1811595

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Materials Science
Physics
SnO2
SnSe
Ternary phase diagram
Thermal conductivity
Thermoelectricity
Tin oxide

Effect of Sn oxides on the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline SnSe

Citation Formats

References (47)

Similar Records

Related Subjects