About this Abstract |
Meeting |
MS&T24: Materials Science & Technology
|
Symposium
|
Energy Materials for Sustainable Development
|
Presentation Title |
Benchtop Room-Temperature Synthesis of High Performance Thermoelectrics |
Author(s) |
Kirill Kovnir |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Kirill Kovnir |
Abstract Scope |
Se-containing materials are often synthesized from toxic and expensive organo-Se precursors. We are reporting a facile alternative utilizing elemental Se which is cheap and non-toxic. A process of elemental Se activation was developed resulting in stable solution of multiple Se species confirmed with 77Se NMR studies, including Se in formal –1 oxidation states. The developed activated Se precursor allows us to produce and dope Ag2Se-based materials at room temperature thus avoiding the high-temperature polymorphic phase transitions. Zn-doped Ag2Se samples produced in the present work demonstrated remarkable thermoelectric performance with a maximum zT of 1.3 and averaged zT of 1.15 in 25-120 C range which outperforms all reported Ag2Se materials and is on par with the best n-type Bi2Te3-based and Mg3Bi2-based materials. The latter materials require high-temperatures and complex synthetic modifications, while our synthesis employs a simple and sustainable benchtop chemistry to yield efficient room temperature thermoelectric materials. |