| Abstract Scope |
Among the various possibilities offered by the periodic table, copper-rich ternary and quaternary sulfides represent a formidable source for the discovery of low cost and environmentally benign thermoelectric materials. Copper-rich sulfides form an important class where univalent copper is the dominant element, giving the possibility of creating hole carriers in the conductive “Cu–S” network for the generation of p-type thermoelectrics. During this presentation, recent advances in synthetic colusites will be shown [1-4]. Some peculiar structural features in connection with chemical bonding, such as the existence of metal complexes within the structure and/or structural disorder, were carefully examined to establish rules and correlations between the crystal structures, electronic structures, vibrational and thermoelectric properties.
[1] Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 58, 15455 (2019), [2] Adv. Energy Mater. 9, 1803249 (2019), [3] JACS 140, 2186 (2018), [4] PRM 4, 025404 (2020), [5] Chem. Mater. 32, 830 (2020), [6] Acta Mater. 195, 229 (2020). |