The origin of low thermal conductivity in Sn<sub>1−x</sub>Sb<sub>x</sub>Te: phonon scattering via layered intergrowth nanostructures

Banik, Ananya; Vishal, Badri; Perumal, Suresh; Datta, Ranjan; Biswas, Kanishka

doi:10.1039/c6ee00728g

Cited by 260 publications

(266 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…[2] Few-layer nanosheets of layered Bi 2 X 3 (X = Te ,S e) have shown promising thermoelectric propertiesr esulting from enhanced metallic surface states, high carrier mobility,a nd low thermal conductivity. [5] Tins elenide (SnSe), an arrow band-gap semiconductor,b elongs to the sub-group of typical LMCs. [5] Tins elenide (SnSe), an arrow band-gap semiconductor,b elongs to the sub-group of typical LMCs.…”

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confidence: 99%

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe₂

Saha

Banik

Biswas

2016

Chemistry A European J

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Layered p-block metal chalcogenides are renowned for thermoelectric energy conversion due to their low thermal conductivity caused by bonding asymmetry and anharmonicity. Recently, single crystalline layered SnSe has created sensation in thermoelectrics due to its ultralow thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric figure of merit. Tin diselenide (SnSe ), an additional layered compound belonging to the Sn-Se phase diagram, possesses a CdI -type structure. However, synthesis of pure-phase bulk SnSe by a conventional solid-state route is still remains challenging. A simple solution-based low-temperature synthesis is presented of ultrathin (3-5 nm) few layers (4-6 layers) nanosheets of Cl-doped SnSe , which possess n-type carrier concentration of 2×10 cm with carrier mobility of about 30 cm V s at room temperature. SnSe has a band gap of about 1.6 eV and semiconducting electronic transport in the 300-630 K range. An ultralow thermal conductivity of about 0.67 Wm K was achieved at room temperature in a hot-pressed dense pellet of Cl-doped SnSe nanosheets due to the anisotropic layered structure, which gives rise to effective phonon scattering.

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confidence: 99%

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe₂

Saha

Banik

Biswas

2016

Chemistry A European J

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“…Basically, a good thermoelectric material should have both a high Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity, and possess as low a thermal conductivity as possible. [27][28][29] . Although they all possess a highenergy conversion efficiency, most of them contain toxic and expensive elements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Basically, a good thermoelectric material should have both a high Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity, and possess as low a thermal conductivity as possible. Currently, there are several families of excellent thermoelectric materials available, such as Bi 2 Te 3 12-15 , PbTe [16][17][18] , CoSb 3 19-21 , GeTe [22][23][24] , SnSe 25,26 and SnTe [27][28][29] . Although they all possess a highenergy conversion efficiency, most of them contain toxic and expensive elements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric performance of CuFeS2+2x composites prepared by rapid thermal explosion

Xie

Yan

et al. 2017

NPG Asia Mater

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Although many thermoelectric materials, such as Bi 2 Te 3 , PbTe and CoSb 3 , possess excellent thermoelectric properties, they often contain toxic and expensive elements. Moreover, most of them are synthesized by processes such as vacuum melting, mechanical alloying or solid-state reactions, which are highly energy and time intensive. All these factors limit commercial applications of the thermoelectric materials. Therefore, it is imperative to develop efficient, inexpensive and non-toxic materials and explore rapid and low-cost synthesis methods. Herein we demonstrated a rapid, facile and low-cost synthesis route that combines thermal explosion (TE) with plasma-activated sintering and used it to prepare environmentally benign CuFeS 2+2x . The phase transformation that occurred during the TE and correlations between the microstructure and transport properties were investigated. In a TE process, single-phase CuFeS 2 was obtained in a short time and the thermoelectric performance of the bulk samples was better than that of the samples that were synthesized using traditional methods. Furthermore, the effect of phase boundaries on the transport properties was investigated and the underlying physical mechanisms that led to an improvement in the thermoelectric performance were revealed. This work provides several new ideas regarding the TE process and its utilization in the synthesis of thermoelectric materials. INTRODUCTIONIn the past few decades, increased concerns regarding environmental degradation and rising energy costs have sparked vigorous research activities to identify alternative energy sources and develop novel energy materials. One of the most exciting clean energy conversion technologies is thermoelectricity that can be used to harvest waste industrial heat via the Seebeck effect and convert it into electricity using a purely solid-state means without moving parts [1][2][3][4][5] . The efficiency of the conversion process is determined by the dimensionless figure of merit ZT = α 2 σT /(κ e +κ L ), where α is the Seebeck coefficient, σ is the electrical conductivity, T is the absolute temperature, and κ e and κ L are the electronic and lattice contributions, respectively, to the thermal conductivity 6-11 . Basically, a good thermoelectric material should have both a high Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity, and possess as low a thermal conductivity as possible. [27][28][29] . Although they all possess a highenergy conversion efficiency, most of them contain toxic and expensive elements. Moreover, the synthesis processes that are used consume considerable energy and are time intensive. The above limitations constrain their large-scale industrial applications. Thus, it is important to develop efficient, inexpensive and environmentally

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“…The SnTe pellets display relatively low thermal conductivity (κ), and the values decrease from ~3.33 W·m −1 ·K −1 at 300 K, to ~2.84 W·m −1 ·K −1 at 530 K (Figure 6d). The corresponding lattice thermal conductivity (κ L ) decreases from ~1.63 W·m −1 ·K −1 at 300 K, to ~1.28 W·m −1 ·K −1 at 530 K (Figure 6e), which is lower when compared to bulk materials [18,26,28,29], and could be due to the nanostructuring of the SnTe pellets. ZT was derived from the electrical and thermal property results and increases from ~0.027 at 300 K, to ~0.081 at 530 K (Figure 6f).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-Scale Surfactant-Free Synthesis of p-Type SnTe Nanoparticles for Thermoelectric Applications

et al. 2017

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A facile one-pot aqueous solution method has been developed for the fast and straightforward synthesis of SnTe nanoparticles in more than ten gram quantities per batch. The synthesis involves boiling an alkaline Na2SnO2 solution and a NaHTe solution for short time scales, in which the NaOH concentration and reaction duration play vital roles in controlling the phase purity and particle size, respectively. Spark plasma sintering of the SnTe nanoparticles produces nanostructured compacts that have a comparable thermoelectric performance to bulk counterparts synthesised by more time- and energy-intensive methods. This approach, combining an energy-efficient, surfactant-free solution synthesis with spark plasma sintering, provides a simple, rapid, and inexpensive route to p-type SnTe nanostructured materials.

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The origin of low thermal conductivity in Sn_1−xSb_xTe: phonon scattering via layered intergrowth nanostructures

Abstract: The spontaneous formation of nanodomains of the Sb-rich layered intergrowth SnmSb2nTe3n+m compounds in a SnTe matrix resulted in ultralow lattice thermal conductivity.

Cited by 260 publications

References 67 publications

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe₂

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe₂

Thermoelectric performance of CuFeS2+2x composites prepared by rapid thermal explosion

Large-Scale Surfactant-Free Synthesis of p-Type SnTe Nanoparticles for Thermoelectric Applications

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The origin of low thermal conductivity in Sn1−xSbxTe: phonon scattering via layered intergrowth nanostructures

Abstract: The spontaneous formation of nanodomains of the Sb-rich layered intergrowth SnmSb2nTe3n+m compounds in a SnTe matrix resulted in ultralow lattice thermal conductivity.

Cited by 260 publications

References 67 publications

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe2

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe2

Thermoelectric performance of CuFeS2+2x composites prepared by rapid thermal explosion

Large-Scale Surfactant-Free Synthesis of p-Type SnTe Nanoparticles for Thermoelectric Applications

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The origin of low thermal conductivity in Sn_1−xSb_xTe: phonon scattering via layered intergrowth nanostructures

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe₂

Few‐Layer Nanosheets of n‐Type SnSe₂