Baocheng Yuan, Yi Wen, Lei Wang, Zhihao Li, Hong-Chao Wang, Cheng Chang, Li-Dong Zhao
{"title":"Impact of CuFeS2 on the Thermoelectric Performance of SnTe","authors":"Baocheng Yuan, Yi Wen, Lei Wang, Zhihao Li, Hong-Chao Wang, Cheng Chang, Li-Dong Zhao","doi":"10.1007/s40195-025-01831-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Thermoelectric materials possess tremendous potential in energy regeneration owing to their capacity to produce power directly from heat. SnTe, a lead-free compound, is a prospective thermoelectric material. However, because of its elevated thermal conductivity, the thermoelectric performance of undoped SnTe remains at a low level. In this work, we induce ternary compounds CuFeS<sub>2</sub> into the SnTe matrix by ball milling. We observe the decomposition of CuFeS<sub>2</sub>, which decomposes into FeS, Cu<sub>2</sub>S, and other binary compounds. These newly generated binary compounds form micropores and secondary phases in the matrix. Combined with the natural grain boundaries in the polycrystal, they form all-scale hierarchical structures within the material, resulting in reduced lattice thermal conductivity. Overall, the produced SnTe + 2 wt% CuFeS<sub>2</sub> composites show the peak dimensionless figure of merit (<i>ZT</i>) up to 0.33 at 673 K, an increase of ~ 100% compared to the undoped SnTe.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":457,"journal":{"name":"Acta Metallurgica Sinica-English Letters","volume":"38 5","pages":"803 - 810"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Acta Metallurgica Sinica-English Letters","FirstCategoryId":"1","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40195-025-01831-3","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"METALLURGY & METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Thermoelectric materials possess tremendous potential in energy regeneration owing to their capacity to produce power directly from heat. SnTe, a lead-free compound, is a prospective thermoelectric material. However, because of its elevated thermal conductivity, the thermoelectric performance of undoped SnTe remains at a low level. In this work, we induce ternary compounds CuFeS2 into the SnTe matrix by ball milling. We observe the decomposition of CuFeS2, which decomposes into FeS, Cu2S, and other binary compounds. These newly generated binary compounds form micropores and secondary phases in the matrix. Combined with the natural grain boundaries in the polycrystal, they form all-scale hierarchical structures within the material, resulting in reduced lattice thermal conductivity. Overall, the produced SnTe + 2 wt% CuFeS2 composites show the peak dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) up to 0.33 at 673 K, an increase of ~ 100% compared to the undoped SnTe.
期刊介绍:
This international journal presents compact reports of significant, original and timely research reflecting progress in metallurgy, materials science and engineering, including materials physics, physical metallurgy, and process metallurgy.