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Enhancement of thermoelectric performance of Cu2Se by K doping

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Abstract

Potassium-doped Cu2Se compounds were fabricated using a combined process of hydrothermal synthesis and hot-pressed sintering. The effects of potassium doping on the thermoelectric properties were studied. Compared with the K-free sample, the Seebeck coefficients and the resistivity of K-doped samples increase. This is due to the annihilation of the intrinsic holes with the external electrons introduced by K doping in Cu2Se, which eventually leads to the decrease of the hole concentration. Especially, some micro-pores are introduced by K doping, together with reduced carrier concentration that result in low thermal conductivity. Finally, for the nominal component Cu1.97K0.03Se (EPMA measured component Cu1.9891K0.0108Se), the peak value of ZT reaches 1.19 at 773 K, which is 47% larger than that of pure Cu2Se (ZTmax = 0.81).

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61774136), the China and Henan Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2017M620303 and 2018M630833), and the Key Programs for Science and Technology Development of Henan Province (Grant Nos. 182102210183 and 182102210594).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Material Physics of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Zheng Zhu, Yuewen Zhang, Hongzhang Song & Xin-Jian Li

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  1. Zheng Zhu
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  2. Yuewen Zhang
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  3. Hongzhang Song
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Correspondence to Hongzhang Song or Xin-Jian Li.

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Zhu, Z., Zhang, Y., Song, H. et al. Enhancement of thermoelectric performance of Cu2Se by K doping. Appl. Phys. A 124, 871 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2299-5

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