Achieving high thermoelectric performance of Cu1.8S composites with WSe2 nanoparticles

Peng Qin; Zhen-Hua Ge; Yue-Xing Chen; Xiaoyu Chong; Jing Feng; Jiaqing He

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/aac901

Achieving high thermoelectric performance of Cu_1.8S composites with WSe₂ nanoparticles

Nanotechnology. 2018 Aug 24;29(34):345402. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/aac901. Epub 2018 May 31.

Authors

Peng Qin¹, Zhen-Hua Ge, Yue-Xing Chen, Xiaoyu Chong, Jing Feng, Jiaqing He

Affiliation

¹ Faculty of Materials Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 29848808
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/aac901

Abstract

Polycrystalline p-type Cu_1.8S composites with WSe₂ nanoparticles were fabricated by the mechanical alloying method combined with the spark plasma sintering technique. The Seebeck coefficient was significantly enhanced by the optimized carrier concentration, while the thermal conductivity was simultaneously decreased due to the refined grain and WSe₂ nanoparticles. An enhanced Seebeck coefficient of 110 μV K^-1 and a reduced thermal conductivity of 0.68 W m^-1 K^-1 were obtained for the Cu_1.8S + 1 wt% WSe₂ sample at 773 K, resulting in a remarkably enhanced peak ZT of 1.22 at 773 K, which is 2.5 times higher than that (0.49 at 773 K) of a pristine Cu_1.8S sample. The cheap and environmentally friendly Cu_1.8S-based materials with enhanced properties may find promising applications in thermoelectric devices.