Synthesis, characterization and comparative thermoelectric behaviour study of two phases of CuFeS2 nanoparticles

Abstract

A comparative study of power factor and figure of merit of two phases, tetragonal (TG) and hexagonal (HG), of CuFeS₂ (CFS) nanoparticles are carried out. The HG phased CFS is synthesized by microwave-assisted method. The complete synthesis and characterization of the HG phase CFS nanoparticles is reported in authors’ earlier paper. The TG phase of the CFS nanoparticles is synthesised by simple wet chemical method. The TG CFS is characterized by powder X − ray diffraction plot, energy dispersive analysis of X-ray, UV-Vis spectroscopy plot, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy with selected area electron diffraction. The nanoparticles with two different phases are compared for the thermoelectric measurement and tried to check the most appropriate phase for the thermoelectric usage. The results demonstrate the potential of the HG phase of CFS for thermoelectric applications. This study delivers a promising foundation for the development of high-efficiency thermoelectric materials based on CFS.