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Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance of SnTe Composites with 2D WSe2

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Abstract

In this work, we introduced two-dimensional (2D) WSe2 with the lowest heat conductivity to enhance thermoelectric properties of the non-toxic and cost-effective SnTe. On one hand, the improved power factor can be attributed to the enhancement of Seebeck coefficient due to the decrease of low-energy carriers and minority carriers by the addition of WSe2-SnTe p-p-type heterojunction interface barriers. On the other hand, the thermal conductivity also decreased sharply by the heightened phonon scattering from the high-density stacking faults and multiscale hierarchical architectures. Ultimately, benefiting from the dual regulation effect of the introduction of 2D WSe2 on the electro-acoustic decoupling, an improved figure of merit (ZT) of 1.0 is achieved for the composition of SnTe + 6 wt% WSe2 at 873 K, which is enhanced by 134% in comparison with the pure SnTe sample. Moreover, the meaningful attempt represents an effective and feasible strategy for mixing SnTe with other compounds by the method of ball milling.

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Acknowledgments

This work is co-financed by the Doctor Talent Project of the Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province, Research and development of high-temperature seals for nitrogen and oxygen sensors (No. 2021320400000361). Technical assistance from the Analytical and Testing Center of HUST is likewise gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou, 213001, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaochun Wang

  2. Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd., Dongguan, 523863, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiwei Zhou

  3. State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xuesong Lin

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Correspondence to Xiaochun Wang.

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Wang, X., Zhou, Z. & Lin, X. Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance of SnTe Composites with 2D WSe2. J. Electron. Mater. 51, 486–494 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-021-09309-5

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