Thermoelectric properties of semiconductor-metal composites produced by particle blending
Liu, Yu (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Cadavid, Doris (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Ibáñez, Maria (Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)
Ortega, Silvia (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Martí-Sánchez, Sara (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Dobrozhan, Oleksandr (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Kovalenko, Maksym V. (Institute of Inorganic Chemistry (Bratislava, Eslovàquia))
Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Cabot i Codina, Andreu (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)

Date:	2016
Abstract:	In the quest for more efficient thermoelectric material able to convert thermal to electrical energy and vice versa, composites that combine a semiconductor host having a large Seebeck coefficient with metal nanodomains that provide phonon scattering and free charge carriers are particularly appealing. Here, we present our experimental results on the thermal and electrical transport properties of PbS-metal composites produced by a versatile particle blending procedure, and where the metal work function allows injecting electrons to the intrinsic PbS host. We compare the thermoelectric performance of composites with microcrystalline or nanocrystalline structures. The electrical conductivity of the microcrystalline host can be increased several orders of magnitude with the metal inclusion, while relatively high Seebeck coefficient can be simultaneously conserved. On the other hand, in nanostructured materials, the host crystallites are not able to sustain a band bending at its interface with the metal, becoming flooded with electrons. This translates into even higher electrical conductivities than the microcrystalline material, but at the expense of lower Seebeck coefficient values.
Grants:	European Commission 310250 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2013-46624-C4-3-R Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2013/BP-A00344 European Commission 306733 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-1638
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Electrical conductivity ; Free charge carriers ; Microcrystalline materials ; Nano-crystalline structures ; Thermal and electrical transport ; Thermo-Electric materials ; Thermoelectric performance ; Thermoelectric properties
Published in:	APL materials, Vol. 4, Núm. 10 (January 2016) , p. 104813, ISSN 2166-532X

DOI: 10.1063/1.4961679

8 p, 3.3 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles