Amorphous carbon nano-inclusions for strategical enhancement of thermoelectric performance in Earth-abundant Cu3SbS4

Theja, V. C. S., Karthikeyan, V. , Yeung, C.-C., Venkatesh, S., Nayak, S. and Roy, V. A. L. (2022) Amorphous carbon nano-inclusions for strategical enhancement of thermoelectric performance in Earth-abundant Cu3SbS4. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 900, 163433. (doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2021.163433)

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Abstract

Cu3SbS4 is an effective, low cost and non-toxic thermoelectric compound for intermediate temperature applications. However, its tetragonal structure needs to be tuned for efficient phonon scattering to reduce thermal conductivity and enhance zT. In this present article, the semiconductive carbon black nano-inclusions effect on Cu3SbS4 thermoelectric performance is studied. The thermoelectric properties of the fabricated samples are investigated in the temperature range of 300–623 K. Addition of amorphous carbon nano-inclusions in Cu3SbS4 causes a reduction in the thermal conductivity by phonon scattering and improvement in the Seebeck coefficient by carrier energy filtering mechanisms. The maximum figure of merit of 0.51 is obtained for 3 mol.% carbon nano-inclusion sample at 623 K. Additionally, enhancement of thermal stability and mechanical stability (hardness) with increased carbon nano-inclusion concentration is observed. It is found that grain boundary hardening and dispersion strengthening are the reasons for the enhancement. Moreover, our detailed studies demonstrate that the addition of carbon nano-inclusions in Cu3SbS4 can produce efficient, non-toxic, and inexpensive state-of-the-art thermoelectric devices.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:We acknowledge grants from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Project no: T42-717/20.
Keywords:Cu3SbS4, Carbon, Nano-inclusions, Thermoelectric, Thermal conductivity
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Vellaisamy, Professor Roy and Karthikeyan, Dr Vaithinathan
Authors: Theja, V. C. S., Karthikeyan, V., Yeung, C.-C., Venkatesh, S., Nayak, S., and Roy, V. A. L.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
Journal Name:Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0925-8388
ISSN (Online):1873-4669
Published Online:28 December 2021

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