Skip to main content
Download PDF

Thermoelectric performance enhancement of (BiS)1.2(TiS2)2 misfit layer sulfide by chromium doping

Journal of Advanced Ceramics volume 2, pages 42–48 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

A misfit layer sulfide (BiS)1.2(TiS2)2 with a natural superlattice structure has been shown to be a promising thermoelectric material, but its high carrier concentration should be reduced so as to further optimize the thermoelectric performance. However, ordinary acceptor doping has not succeeded because of the non-parabolic band structure. In this paper, we have successfully doped chromium ions into the Ti sites, which can maintain or even enhance the high effective mass of electrons so as to effectively improve ZT value. X-ray diffraction analysis, coupled with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, shows that chromium has been substituted into titanium sites in TiS2 layers and confirms its ionic state. The chromium doping has successfully reduced the carrier concentration with the subsequent reduction of electrical conductivity. Unlike other acceptor dopants (alkaline earth metals), chromium also enhances Seebeck coefficient and the effective mass, which can possibly be attributed to the formation of additional resonant states near Fermi level. Though the power factor does not improve, the significant reduction in the electronic part of the thermal conductivity leads to a measurable improvement in ZT.

References

  1. Pei YZ, Shi XY, LaLonde A, et al. Convergence of electronic bands for high performance bulk thermoelectrics. Nature 2001, 473: 66–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Snyder GJ, Toberer ES. Complex thermoelectric materials. Nat Mater 2008, 7: 105–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hicks LD, Dresselhaus MS. Effect of quantum-well structures on the thermoelectric figure of merit. Phys Rev B 1993, 47: 12727–12731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Imai H, Shimakawa Y, Kubo Y. Large thermoelectric power factor in TiS2 crystal with nearly stoichiometric composition. Phys Rev B 2001, 64: 241104-1–241104-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Slack GA. New materials and performance limits for thermoelectric cooling. In CRC Handbook of Thermoelectric. Rowe DM, Ed. Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press, 1995: 407–440.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chen CH, Fabian W, Brown FC, et al. Angle-resolved photoemission studies of the band structure of TiSe2 and TiS2. Phys Rev B 1980, 21: 615–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Wilson JA. Modelling the contrasting semimetallic characters of TiS2 and TiSe2. Phys Status Solidi b 1978, 86: 11–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Guilmeau E, Bréard Y, Maignan A. Transport and thermoelectric properties in copper intercalated TiS2 chalcogenide. Appl Phys Lett 2011, 99: 052107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Wan CL, Wang YF, Wang N, et al. Low-thermal-conductivity (MS)1+x(TiS2)2 (M = Pb, Bi, Sn) misfit layer compounds for bulk thermoelectric materials. Materials 2010, 3: 2606–2617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Wan CL, Wang YF, Wang N, et al. Layer-structured metal sulfides as novel thermoelectric materials. In Modules, Systems and Applications in Thermoelectrics. Rowe DM, Ed. Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press, 2012: 4.1–4.11.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Putri YE, Wan CL, Wang YF, et al. Effects of alkaline earth doping on the thermoelectric properties of misfit layer sulfides. Scripta Mater 2012, 66: 895–898.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ünveren E, Kemnitz E, Hutton S, et al. Analysis of highly resolved X-ray photoelectron Cr 2p spectra obtained with a Cr2O3 powder sample prepared with adhesive tape. Surf Interface Anal 2004, 36: 92–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Biesinger MC, Brown C, Mycroft JR, et al. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies of chromium compounds. Surf Interface Anal 2004, 36: 1550–1563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhang J, Qin XY, Xin HX, et al. Thermoelectric properties of Co-doped TiS2. J Electron Mater 2011, 40: 980–986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Dingle R, Störmer HL, Gossard AC, et al. Electron mobilities in modulation-doped semiconductor heterojunction superlattices. Appl Phys Lett 1978, 33: 665–667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Seto JYW. The electrical properties of polycrystalline silicon films. J Appl Phys 1975, 46: 5247–5254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Sze SM. Semi Conductor Devices. 2nd edn. USA: Wiley, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Wiegers GA. Charge transfer between layers in misfit layer compounds. J Alloys Compd 1995, 219: 152–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Debye PP, Conwell EM. Electrical properties of N-type germanium. Phys Rev 1954, 93: 693–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Tichý L, Frumar M, Kincl M, et al. Mixed scattering mechanism of free current carriers in SnBi4Te7 single crystals. Phys Status Solidi a 1981,64: 461–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Flage-Larsen E, Prytz Ø. The Lorenz function: Its properties at optimum thermoelectric figure-of-merit. Appl Phys Lett 2011, 99: 202108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Sofo JO, Mahan GD. Electronic structure of CoSb3: A narrow-band-gap semiconductor. Phys Rev B 1998, 58: 15620–15623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wu J, Walukiewicz W, Shan W, et al. Effects of the narrow band gap on the properties of InN. Phys Rev B 2002, 66: 201403-1–201403-4.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Zhang J, Qin XY, Li D, et al. The transport and thermoelectric properties of Cd doped compounds (CdxTi1−x)1+yS2. J Alloys Compd 2009, 479: 816–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Minnich AJ, Dresselhaus MS, Ren ZF, et al. Bulk nanostructured thermoelectric materials: Current research and future prospects. Energy Environ Sci 2009, 2: 466–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Wan CL, Wang YF, Norimatsu W, et al. Nanoscale stacking faults induced low thermal conductivity in thermoelectric layered metal sulfides. Appl Phys Lett 2012, 100: 101913-1–101913-4.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Cahill DG, Watson SK, Pohl RO. Lower limit to the thermal conductivity of disordered crystals. Phys Rev B 1992, 46: 6131–6140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Yulia Eka Putri, Chunlei Wan & Kunihito Koumoto

  2. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, 102-0075, Japan

    Chunlei Wan & Kunihito Koumoto

  3. Department of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Technology and Functional Materials (Culture Base), Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Ruizhi Zhang

  4. National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, 305-0044, Japan

    Takao Mori

Authors
  1. Yulia Eka Putri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chunlei Wan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ruizhi Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Takao Mori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kunihito Koumoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kunihito Koumoto.

Additional information

This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Putri, Y.E., Wan, C., Zhang, R. et al. Thermoelectric performance enhancement of (BiS)1.2(TiS2)2 misfit layer sulfide by chromium doping. J Adv Ceram 2, 42–48 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-013-0040-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-013-0040-6

Keywords

  • thermoelectric
  • misfit layer sulfide
  • spark plasma sintering
  • electrical conductivity
  • thermal conductivity