Grape juice: an effective liquid additive for significant enhancement of thermoelectric performance of Cu 2 Se
The reduction of thermal conductivity and enhancement of electrical properties is the ultimate goal for achieving high-performance thermoelectric materials. In this paper, a high thermoelectric performance is demonstrated when grape juice is used as an additive to Cu 2 Se. High temperature processin...
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Published in | Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 8; no. 33; pp. 16913 - 16919 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
25.08.2020
|
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The reduction of thermal conductivity and enhancement of electrical properties is the ultimate goal for achieving high-performance thermoelectric materials. In this paper, a high thermoelectric performance is demonstrated when grape juice is used as an additive to Cu
2
Se. High temperature processing of the mixture pyrolyzes the sugars in the grape juice and provides a fine-scale and well-mixed dispersion of elemental carbon in the Cu
2
Se matrix. These materials show a significant enhancement of electrical conductivity due to a high hole concentration with little change of the Seebeck coefficient, leading to an ultra-high power factor of 1.3 mW m
−1
K
−2
at 984 K. Microstructural studies reveal that the carbon phase is embedded on the Cu
2
Se grain boundaries and that Cu
2
O nanoparticles are located at the interface between carbon and Cu
2
Se. This results in phonon scattering at the interface which leads to a reduction of thermal conductivity of up to ∼38%. It is proposed that the formation of Cu
2
O also induces Cu deficiencies in Cu
2
Se resulting in greater enhancement of electrical conductivity. As a result, the
zT
is significantly enhanced up to ∼2.5 at 984 K. This study opens up a new avenue for enhancing the properties of thermoelectric materials. |
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ISSN: | 2050-7488 2050-7496 |
DOI: | 10.1039/D0TA03545A |