Abstract
Tetrahedrite-structure compounds, of general composition Cu12−xZnxSb4S13, are an earth-abundant alternative to PbTe for thermoelectric power generation applications in the intermediate high-temperature range (300–400°C). Tetrahedrites can be synthesized in the laboratory using a multi-step process involving long annealing times. However, this compound also exists in natural mineral form, and, in fact, is one of the most abundant copper-bearing minerals in the world. We show here that by simply mixing natural mineral tetrahedrite with pure elements through high-energy ball milling without any further heat treatment, we can successfully obtain material with figure of merit near unity at 723 K.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported as part of the "Revolutionary Materials for Solid State Energy Conversion," an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award #DE-SC0001054. The authors also would like to thank Professor Eldon Case and Xiaofeng Fan for the grain size analysis.
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Lu, X., Morelli, D.T. Rapid synthesis of high-performance thermoelectric materials directly from natural mineral tetrahedrite. MRS Communications 3, 129–133 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2013.26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2013.26