<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Quaternary chalcogenide Cu</span><span>2</span><span>ZnSnS</span><span>4 </span><span>is a potential candidate for thermoelectric (TE) application due to a number of advantages including containing only non-toxic and abundant elements, high Seebeck coefficient and low thermal conductivity. In this study, Cu</span><span>2</span><span>ZnSnS</span><span>4 </span><span>was synthesized using mechanical alloying method from Cu, Zn, Sn and S powders. In order to study the effect of milling duration on the formation of Cu</span><span>2</span><span>ZnSnS</span><span>4</span><span>, different milling duration of 2, 4, 12 and 16 h were carried out. As the results, Cu</span><span>2</span><span>ZnSnS</span><span>4 </span><span>wasstarted to form after milling for 12 h. The formation of Cu</span><span>2</span><span>ZnSnS</span><span>4 </span><span>was completed after 16 h of milling. In addition, Cu</span><span>2</span><span>ZnSnS</span><span>4 </span><span>nanoparticles were obtained after 16 h of milling with the particle distribution mostly in the range of 50 - 60 nm. </span></p></div></div></div>

<p class="AMSmaintext">In this work, Cu_1.6Bi_4.6S₈ thermoelectric compound was synthesized using high energy milling and heat treatment. The starting mixture include Cu, Bi and S elemental powders at the stoichiometry ratio of the formula Cu_1.6Bi_4.6S₈ were ball milled in a planetary ball mill and heat treated in an electric furnace. The results shown that after 10 hours of milling, a compound identified as Cu_3.21Bi_4.79S₉ was formed. The 16h milled powder was heat-treated at 350, 400 and 450ºC for 1 hours at a heating rate of 8 ºC/minute, XRD of the annealed powder reveals that the Cu_3.21Bi_4.79S₉ obtained fully transformed into Cu_1.6Bi_4.6S₈ after being heat treated at 400ºC. Meanwhile, Bi₂S₃ was found in the powder being annealed at 350ºC. The 5h milled powder was also annealed at 400ºC for 1 hours at a heating rate of 2 and 8 ºC/minute, XRD analysis show that Cu_1.6Bi_4.6S₈ was also formed in the heat-treated powder with the heating rate of 2 ºC/min.</p>