Co-precipitation synthesis of Sn and/or S doped nanostructured Cu3Sb1−xSnxSe4−ySy with a high thermoelectric performance

Abstract

Large-scale Sn and/or S doped Cu₃Sb_1−xSn_xSe_4−yS_y (x = 0.02, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.10; y = 0, 0.5) nanoparticles were first prepared through a low-temperature co-precipitation route. The effects of Sn doping on the thermoelectric properties of the Cu₃SbSe₄-based materials were explored. Due to the improved power factor from optimizing the carrier concentration and the reduced lattice thermal conductivity from enhanced phonon scattering at the grain interfaces, the maximum thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT_max, obtained here reached 1.1 for the co-doped Cu₃Sb_0.94Sn_0.06Se_3.5S_0.5 material, which is the largest value reported for Cu₃SbSe₄-based materials.