Achieving an excellent thermoelectric performance in nanostructured copper sulfide bulk via a fast doping strategy

Low-Toxic, Earth-Abundant Nanostructured Materials for Thermoelectric Applications

“…Cu 1 . 8 S + 3 wt% In 2 S 3 bulk samples were fabricated by doping with indium sulfide(In 2 S 3 ) by spark plasma sintering to reach a peak ZT of 1.4 at 773 K [ 26 ]. The fast doping resulted in point defects, nanopores, and inclusion of second phases in the Cu 1 .…”

“…The fast doping resulted in point defects, nanopores, and inclusion of second phases in the Cu 1 . 8 S bulk materials [ 26 ]. These nanostructures dropped the thermal conductivity, and the indium doping enhanced the effective mass of the charge carriers improving the Seebeck coefficient [ 26 ].…”

“…8 S bulk materials [ 26 ]. These nanostructures dropped the thermal conductivity, and the indium doping enhanced the effective mass of the charge carriers improving the Seebeck coefficient [ 26 ]. Nanoscale CuInS 2 phase was formed with the introduction of 2% indium sulfide (In 2 S 3 ) to reach a ZT value of 1.23 and a relatively high-power factor of 1361 µWm −1 K −2 at 850 K [ 27 ].…”

Copper Chalcogenide–Copper Tetrahedrite Composites—A New Concept for Stable Thermoelectric Materials Based on the Chalcogenide System

“…In the era of global energy and the climate crisis, the development of low-pollution energy-conversion technologies constitutes one of the top priorities among the scientific community. Transition metal chalcogenides, especially copper-based ones, including copper (I) sulfide and copper (I) selenide, are among the most prominent and extensively investigated materials in this context, offering multiple functional properties that can be used in several potential applications such as photoelectrochemical, photocatalytic, or solar cells [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ], as well as, primarily, thermoelectrics [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Copper chalcogenides with a general formula of Cu 2−x Ch (where x varies from 0 to 0.2) are often classified as so-called superionic conductors, the unique transport properties of which can be described on the basis of the phonon-liquid electron-crystal (PLEC) theory [ 5 , 8 ].…”

Influence of Nanoparticle Processing on the Thermoelectric Properties of (BixSb1−X)2Te3 Ternary Alloys

“…[20][21][22] Though many efforts were made to overcome such intrinsic limitations and optimize the zT value, [23][24][25] the interdependence of the thermoelectric transport properties renders it rather difficult to enhance one physical parameter without diminishing the others. [26][27][28] Interestingly, nanostructuring (i. e. nanograins and metallic nano-inclusions) as well as point defect engineering are long-proven strategies that have helped achieve significant optimization of thermoelectric materials by decoupling the transport parameters. Such phenomena selectively reduce the lattice thermal conductivity in nanostructured materials such as nanoparticles and thin films due to the additional scattering of heat carrying phonons at grain boundaries and interfaces.…”