Influence of Carrier Density and Energy Barrier Scattering on a High Seebeck Coefficient and Power Factor in Transparent Thermoelectric Copper Iodide

Abstract

Transparent thermoelectric materials offer a synergetic performance for energy harvesting as smart windows. Among them, p-type copper iodide (CuI) is preferred due to its low synthesis temperature, moderate conductivity and mobility, and high optical transparency. X-ray absorption spectroscopy results showed a pre-edge feature in the Cu 2p 3/2 spectrum, which suggested the presence of Cu 0 -like defect states in γ-CuI films. Interface and grain boundaries of CuI and Cu 0 act as a potential energy barrier for energy filtering of charge carriers, which along with the decrease in charge carrier density enhanced the Seebeck coefficient, α. The α value increased by 298% upon annealing at 100 °C, α = 789.5 μVK −1 , which resulted in a 480% increase in the power factor (α 2 σ = 740.9 μWm −1 K −2 ). Our results showed that a high Seebeck coefficient resulted from a decrease in charge carrier density and energy filtering of charge carriers at the interface and grain boundaries in optically transparent (T visible ∼ 60−85%) γ-CuI films for energy harvesting as smart windows.

Engineering Architecture of 3D-Urchin-like Structure and 2D-Nanosheets of Bi2S3@g-C3N4 as the Electrode Material for a Solid-State Symmetric Supercapacitor

“…), low electronegativity, viable resources, less cost, and so on . , Typically, the comparison of dimensionality with 0-dimensional (0D), 1-dimensional (1D), 2-dimensional (2D), and 3-dimensional (3D) nano-/microarchitectures offered a vast opening to the exploration of their promising new properties. Especially, 3D urchin-like, grass-like, sea-like, octopus-like, and flower-like nanostructures assembled by 0D, 1D, or 2D nanostructures are of high interest in electrode materials for SCs compared to simple nanostructured sulfide materials due to their unique porous features, high surface area, and good ionic/electron transport. − So far, the 3D-Bi 2 S 3 hierarchical architectures were widely designed and synthesized carefully.…”

p‐Type Doping and Alloying of CuI Thin Films with Selenium

“…However, a complex phase diagram exists at higher pressures and temperatures. [6,7] Thin film growth has already been demonstrated by various methods such as spin coating, [8] iodization, [9,10] thermal evaporation, [11] sputtering, [12] ion beam sputtering, [13] molecular beam epitaxy, [14] or pulsed laser deposition (PLD). [15] The high and usually degenerate conductivity of CuI is often attributed to intrinsic copper vacancies.…”

Laser fabrication of Cu nanoparticles based nanofluid with enhanced thermal conductivity: Experimental and molecular dynamics studies

“…Nanoparticles are nanosized materials with sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nm [1]. The unique characteristics of materials at the nano-size scale make them attractive, in particular, with respect to their outstanding thermo-physical properties when compared with bulk materials [2,3]. The rapid development and research in nanotechnology has led to the development of new classes of advanced HTFs or nanofluids where nanoparticles are added to the base fluid for better heat transfer and efficiency [4,5].…”