Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2023 Conference (MATSUSFall23)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2023.240
Publication date: 18th July 2023
Thermoelectricity is the phenomenon of converting heat directly into electricity and vice versa, offering a sustainable path to produce electricity from waste heat. To maximize the efficiency of this process, complex materials where not only the crystal structure but also other structural features such as defects, grain size, orientation, and interfaces must be controlled. To date, conventional solid-state techniques cannot provide this level of control. Herein, we present a synthetic approach in which dense inorganic thermoelectric materials are produced by the consolidation of nanoparticle powders produced in solution. This synthetic approach can provide a significant degree of control over the nanoparticle features and hence a unique opportunity to control the final characteristics of the inorganic solid through nanoparticle design.
In particular, in this talk, we will focus on Ag2Se, an important thermoelectric material for the use of thermoelectricity near room temperature, where the library of high-performing materials is minimal. Despite Ag2Se being a promising candidate, the main problems are the large discrepancy in the reported thermoelectric properties and the struggles to reproduce the high performance achieved. Such divergence appears to arise from the difficulty of controlling the defects present in the material, such as vacancies, interstitial atoms, dislocations, grain boundaries, precipitates, etc. We will show that our solution synthesis allows for precise control of such defects, especially avoiding fluctuations in stoichiometry. Furthermore, we show how we can tune microstructural defects, such as strain, dislocations, and grain boundary density, utilizing the characteristic phase transition of Ag2Se during the sintering process. Overall, our results will highlight that besides stoichiometry, the microstructure is crucial for tuning Ag2Se transport properties and how this control can be provided by our novel synthetic route.
This work was financially supported by ISTA and the Werner Siemens Foundation.
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