Recent developments in high-performance thermoelectric sulphides: an overview of the promising synthetic colusites

Abstract

This review summarises the current developments in thermoelectric colusites. Particular attention is paid to the intricate relationship between the structure, microstructure and transport properties.

Enhanced thermoelectric performance in polymorphic heavily Co-doped Cu2SnS3 through carrier compensation by Sb substitution

“…As a result, the power factors ( PF = S 2 σ ) in these Cu 2 Sn 0.8- x Sb x Co 0.2 S 3 ( x = 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08) samples are almost maintained, as shown in Figure 5(c ), except for a slight drop at 773 K. It should be noted that these PFs (~10.4 μW cm −1 K −2 at 723 ~ 773 K) are still quite high as compared with that reported in the literature [ 19 , 24 , 25 , 28–30 ] so far for Cu 2 SnS 3 -based materials, and moreover, they are achieved by effective reduction of σ and simultaneous enhancement of S , which greatly suppresses the electronic thermal conductivity κ e and consequently the total κ .…”

“…Mohite-type diamond-like ternary compound of Cu 2 SnS 3 (hereafter CTS) has emerged as a new environmental-friendly candidate in recent years due to its phonon-glass-electron-crystal characteristics [ 16–18 ] among the high-performance TE sulfides such as synthetic colusites [ 19 , 20 ]. Structurally, phase transition after doping is common and has already been reported in several references [ 21–25 ], and in our samples, it adapts three different variants including monoclinic, cubic and tetragonal phases (hereafter referred to as m-CTS ( a = 6.653 Å, b = 11.537 Å, c = 6.665 Å [ 26 ]), c-CTS ( a = b = c = 5.43 Å) and t-CTS ( a = b = 5.413 Å, c = 10.824 Å [ 27 ]), respectively) with the space group of Cc, F -43 m and I -42, respectively.…”

“…Particularly, acceptors with unfilled d -orbitals (e.g. Co [ 32 ] and Mn [ 19 ]) are found to be able to enhance the carrier DOS (density-of-states) effective mass m *, possibly due to the participation of their d -orbitals in the upper valence bands, resulting in even higher PFs of 9.0 ~ 11.0 μW cm −1 K −2 at high temperatures and a peak ZT of 0.85 at 723 K in 20%Co-doped CTS (Cu 2 Sn 0.8 Co 0.2 S 3 ).…”

Ordered sphalerite derivative Cu5Sn2S7: a degenerate semiconductor with high carrier mobility in the Cu–Sn–S diagram

“…1,19 However, in a recent study of the thermoelectric properties of Cu2+xSn1-xS3, Deng et al have shown that, for 0.016 ≤ x ≤ 0.08, the proportion of the three coexisting polymorphs, cubic 𝐹𝐹4 � 3𝑚𝑚, tetragonal 𝐼𝐼4 � 2𝑚𝑚, and monoclinic 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶, has surprisingly little influence on the electrical transport properties of the material. 20 Considering the critical effect on the transport properties caused by the modifications of the conductive network observed in colusites, [21][22][23] we have revisited the Cu2+xSn1-xS3 system. Using a synergy between synthesis, characterization, and first principles calculations, we found that the crystal chemistry critically controls long range ordering phenomena limiting the relative stability of disordered solid solutions.…”

Environmentally Friendly Thermoelectric Materials: High Performance from Inorganic Components with Low Toxicity and Abundance in the Earth

“…Lately, there have been interesting and thorough review articles focused on the latest developments of thermoelectric materials (see for instance Refs. [7,[12][13][14]) or more on different families of materials (such as sulfides, [15,16] oxides, [17,18] chalcogenides, [19][20][21] graphene-based, [22] silicon, [23] polymers or composites [24,25] ) or different structures (such as nanostructured materials, [9,10,26,27] layered materials, [28] 2D materials [29,30] ) or a variety of applications (wearable thermoelectric harvesters, [31] or others [32][33][34] ). In our case, we will extract from the different families of materials and applications those which are based on abundant-earth elements, and also in the modifications that have produced and enhancement of their thermoelectric properties avoiding the use of hazardous or scarce elements.…”