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Tuning the electronic properties in facile in-situ solution synthesis of SnSe2/rGO nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric performance

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Abstract

We report the potential of an SnSe2–rGO composite as a thermoelectric (TE) material and the effect of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) concentration on its TE properties. SnSe2–rGO composites were synthesized via a solvothermal route followed by sintering at 823 K in the presence of argon. The in-situ doping of rGO within the SnSe2 matrix was successfully achieved. The resultant composite showed a significant improvement in electrical conductivity, which displayed a peak value of 2479 S/m (pure SnSe2 = 750 S/m) at 300 K. This enhancement is due to the presence of rGO conductive sheets, which increased the carrier concentration of the overall structure. The investigation confirms that increasing the rGO concentration can improve the thermoelectric properties of bulk SnSe2, where the peak ZT of 0.18 at 750 K was achieved when 11.7% of rGO was added to the SnSe2 matrix.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available due to the restriction imposed by the funder agency and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Higher Education Commission Islamabad Pakistan, under the National Research Program for Universities (NRPU) Grant (No. 20-15691/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2021, 2021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    Haad Khan, Muhammad Siyar, Farhan Javaid, Malik Adeel Umer & Mohsin Saleem

  2. School of Interdisciplinary Engineering & Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Siyar & Mohsin Saleem

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Korea

    Chan Park & Woochan Jin

  4. Research Institute of Advanced Materials, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Korea

    Chan Park

  5. Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Swat, Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

    Adnan Adnan

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  1. Haad Khan
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Correspondence to Muhammad Siyar.

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Khan, H., Siyar, M., Park, C. et al. Tuning the electronic properties in facile in-situ solution synthesis of SnSe2/rGO nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric performance. Journal of Materials Research 38, 3913–3922 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-023-01112-8

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