Tuning transport properties in thermoelectric nanocomposites through inorganic ligands and heterostructured building blocks
Ibáñez, Maria (EMPA-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)
Genç, Aziz (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Hasler, Roger (Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)
Liu, Yu (Institute of Science and Technology Austria)
Dobrozhan, Oleksandr (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Nazarenko, Olga (Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)
De La Mata, Maria (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Cabot, Andreu (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Kovalenko, Maksym V. (ETH Zürich. Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences)

Date:	2019
Abstract:	Methodologies that involve the use of nanoparticles as "artificial atoms" to rationally build materials in a bottom-up fashion are particularly well-suited to control the matter at the nanoscale. Colloidal synthetic routes allow for an exquisite control over such "artificial atoms" in terms of size, shape, and crystal phase as well as core and surface compositions. We present here a bottom-up approach to produce Pb-Ag-K-S-Te nanocomposites, which is a highly promising system for thermoelectric energy conversion. First, we developed a high-yield and scalable colloidal synthesis route to uniform lead sulfide (PbS) nanorods, whose tips are made of silver sulfide (AgS). We then took advantage of the large surface-to-volume ratio to introduce a p-type dopant (K) by replacing native organic ligands with KTe. Upon thermal consolidation, KTe-surface modified PbS-AgS nanorods yield p-type doped nanocomposites with PbTe and PbS as major phases and AgS and AgTe as embedded nanoinclusions. Thermoelectric characterization of such consolidated nanosolids showed a high thermoelectric figure-of-merit of 1 at 620 K.
Grants:	European Commission 754411 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-1638 European Commission 306733 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-327 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2017-85087-C3 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SEV-2017-0706
Note:	This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice License. See Standard ACS AuthorChoice/Editors' Choice Usage Agreement - https://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/authorchoice_termsofuse.html
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Colloidal nanoparticles ; Asymmetric nanoparticles ; Inorganic ligands ; Heterostructures ; Catalyst assisted growth ; Nanocomposites ; Thermoelectrics
Published in:	ACS nano, Vol. 13, Issue 6 (June 2019) , p. 6572-6580, ISSN 1936-086X

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b00346
PMID: 31185159

9 p, 8.2 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