Enhanced Room-Temperature Thermoelectric Performance of 2D-SnSe Alloys via Electric-Current-Assisted Sintering

oleh: Kesavan Manibalan, Meng-Yuan Ho, You-Cheng Du, Hung-Wei Chen, Hsin-Jay Wu

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-01-01

Deskripsi

Single-crystalline tin-selenide (SnSe) has emerged as a high-performance and eco-friendly alternative to the lead-chalcogens often used in mid-temperature thermoelectric (TE) generators. At high temperature >800 K, the phase transition from <i>Pnma</i> to <i>Cmcm</i> causes a significant rise in the TE figure-of-merit (<i>zT</i>) curve. Conversely, the SnSe TE requires a booster at low temperatures, which allows broader applicability from a device perspective. Herein, a synergy of Cu alloy and Ag-coating is realized through a sequential multi-step synthesis, designed to combine different metal deposition effects. Single-crystalline (Cu<sub>2</sub>Se)<i><sub>x</sub></i>(SnSe)<sub>1−<i>x</i></sub> alloys grown by the Bridgman method were then coated with a thin Ag layer by radio frequency (RF) sputtering, and the interlayer epitaxial film was observed via electric-current assisted sintering (ECAS). Consequently, the thin Ag-coating improves the electrical conductivity (<i>σ</i>) and reduces the thermal conductivity (<i>κ</i>) for (Cu<sub>2</sub>Se)<sub>0.005</sub>(SnSe)<sub>0.995</sub>+Ag alloy, increasing the <i>zT</i> curve at close to room temperature (373 K). The incorporation of multistep addition by ECAS enables tuning of the overall solubility of the alloy, which opens a new avenue to optimize TE performance in anisotropic 2D materials.