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The Synthesis and Investigation of Thermoelectric Properties of Cu4SnS4 at Elevated Temperatures

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Abstract

Cu4SnS4 is a promising thermoelectric (TE) material due to its low thermal conductivity (\(\kappa\)) and relatively high electrical conductivity (\(\sigma\)) and Seebeck coefficient (S). In this research, Cu4SnS4 was synthesized from Cu, Sn, and S powders using the mechanical alloying (MA) method. The 16-h milled powders were heat-treated and consolidated by spark plasma sintering at 873 K. TE properties of the 16-h milled sintered sample was investigated at elevated temperatures. It was observed that the formation of Cu3SnS4 began after 8 h and completed after 16 h of milling, whereby the resulting material exhibited fine particle sizes, ranging from 0.2 to 1.3 µm. Cu4SnS4 was formed after the heat treatment of the 16-h milled powder at 673 K, with a thermal stability up to 923 K. The band gap of the heat-treated powder was 1.62 eV. The values of power factor and the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) increased dramatically with increasing temperature, until the maximum values of 174.4 µW/m K2 and 0.05, respectively, were achieved at 723 K.

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Acknowledgment

This research is funded by Hanoi University of Science and Engineering (HUST) under project number T2022-PC-082.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Bui Duc Long & Le Thi Bang

  2. Institute of Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, No.18 Hoang Quoc Viet Str., Cau Giay Distr., Hanoi, Vietnam

    Tran Bao Trung

  3. Center for Innovative Materials and Architectures (INOMAR), Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Pham Thanh Tuan Anh & Phan Bach Thang

  4. Laboratory of Advanced Materials, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Pham Thanh Tuan Anh

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Long, B.D., Bang, L.T., Trung, T.B. et al. The Synthesis and Investigation of Thermoelectric Properties of Cu4SnS4 at Elevated Temperatures. J. of Materi Eng and Perform (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-024-09519-y

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