High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride
Abstract
Recently, Cu 2-δ S 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 Cumore »
- Authors:
-
- 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)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1226154
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-65307
Journal ID: ISSN 1884-4057
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- NPG Asia Materials (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: NPG Asia Materials (Online); Journal Volume: 7; Related Information: NPG Asia Materials; Journal ID: ISSN 1884-4057
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group Asia
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; thermal conductivity; Cu1Te; direct annealing
Citation Formats
He, Ying, Zhang, Tiansong, Shi, Xun, Wei, Su-Huai, and Chen, Lidong. High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1038/am.2015.91.
He, Ying, Zhang, Tiansong, Shi, Xun, Wei, Su-Huai, & Chen, Lidong. High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/am.2015.91
He, Ying, Zhang, Tiansong, Shi, Xun, Wei, Su-Huai, and Chen, Lidong. Sun .
"High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/am.2015.91. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1226154.
@article{osti_1226154,
title = {High Thermoelectric Performance in Copper Telluride},
author = {He, Ying and Zhang, Tiansong and Shi, Xun and Wei, Su-Huai and Chen, Lidong},
abstractNote = {Recently, Cu 2-δ S 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.},
doi = {10.1038/am.2015.91},
journal = {NPG Asia Materials (Online)},
number = ,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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