Fund Project:Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFB0703600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11474176)
Received Date:05 November 2020
Accepted Date:03 February 2021
Available Online:07 June 2021
Published Online:20 June 2021
Abstract:Cu1.8S-based materials have become potential thermoelectric materials due to their rich raw material reserves, low toxicity, and excellent electrical and thermal properties. In this study, a series of Cu1.8–x Sbx S (x = 0, 0.005, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04) bulk materials is synthesized by using mechanical alloying combined with spark plasma sintering process. This preparation method can shorten the preparation cycle of materials, and effectively improve the research and development efficiency of thermoelectric (TE) materials due to its simple process. The effects of different Sb doping amounts on the structure, micromorphology, and thermoelectric transport properties of Cu1.8–x Sbx S phase are investigated. The results show that when 0 ≤ x < 0.02, the bulk samples are single-phase Cu1.8S. With the further increase of Sb doping to 0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.04, the second phase CuSbS2 is formed when Sb content exceeds the solid solubility limit of x = 0.02 in Cu1.8S, all Cu1.8–x Sbx S bulk samples exhibit p-type conductivity characteristics. Benefitting from the synergistic phonon scattering effect by multiscale defects, such as point defects (${\rm{Sb}}_{{\rm{Cu}}}^{ \bullet\bullet }$, $ {\rm{V}}_{\rm{S}}^{ \bullet \bullet } $), nanopores, secondary phases (CuSbS2), and dislocations, the thermal conductivity κ declines significantly from 1.76 W·m–1·K–1 (x = 0) to 0.99 W·m–1·K–1 at 723 K for the Cu1.76Sb0.04S sample. Finally, the peak dimensionless TE figure of merit (ZT ) value of 0.37 is achieved at 723 K for Cu1.77Sb0.03S resulting from a low thermal conductivity of 1.11 W·m–1·K–1 combining an appropriate power factor of 563 μW·m–1·K–2, which is 12% higher than that (0.33) of pristine Cu1.8S. Although the Sb doped Cu1.8S-based samples have lower thermal conductivity κ, the reduced power factor cannot be offset by reducing the thermal conductivity κ, so the TE figure of merit (ZT ) value is not significantly improved. Therefore, there is still much room for improving the performance of Sb doped Cu1.8S-based thermoelectric material, and its thermoelectric performance can be further optimized through nano-second phase recombination, energy band engineering, and introducing multi-scale defects, etc. Our results suggest that the introduction of Sb into thermoelectric materials is an effective and convenient strategy to improve ZT value by reducing thermal conductivity κ. Keywords:Cu1.8S/ thermoelectric materials/ mechanical alloying/ spark plasma sintering
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3.1.相结构分析
图1为Cu1.8–x Sbx S (x = 0, 0.005, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04)粉体样品的XRD图谱. 从图1(a)可以看出, 所有样品的衍射峰与标准卡片Cu1.8S (PDF#47-1748)一致, 表明合成了单相Cu1.8S; 图1(b)为不同Sb掺杂量粉体样品的(0 1 20)晶面衍射峰放大图, 可以看出, 随着Sb元素的掺杂, 衍射峰逐渐变宽, 表明引入Sb元素能够细化粉体样品的晶粒. 图 1 Cu1.8–x Sbx S (x = 0, 0.005, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04)粉体样品的室温 XRD图谱(2θ = 20o?60o) (a)和(0 1 20)晶面放大峰(b) Figure1. XRD patterns of the Cu1.8–x Sbx S powder samples (x = 0, 0.005, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04) at 2θ range of 20°?60° (a) and the enlarged (0 1 20) peaks (b).
图2为Cu1.8–x Sbx S (x = 0, 0.005, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04)块体样品的XRD图谱. 与粉体样品相比(图1), 块体样品衍射峰的半峰宽变窄, 表明烧结后的块体样品具有更高的结晶度. 由图2(a)可以看出, 当0 ≤ x ≤ 0.02时, 样品的所有特征衍射峰与标准卡片Cu1.8S (PDF#47-1748)一致, 表明合成了单相Cu1.8S; 当0.03 ≤ x ≤ 0.04时, 出现了CuSbS2 (PDF#44-1417)的特征衍射峰, 这是由于随着Sb掺杂量的增多, 超出了Sb在Cu1.8S中的固溶极限, 因而产生了CuSbS2第二相. 而CuSbS2中Sb元素为+3价, 因此推测固溶在Cu1.8S晶格中的Sb呈现+3价. 此外, 根据缺陷方程(2)—(5)可知, 无论Sb以何种价态(+3, +5)进入晶格, 其取代Cu+都将提供电子, 降低载流子浓度, 对于热电性能的影响机制本质是一致的. 图 2 Cu1.8–x Sbx S (x = 0, 0.005, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04)块体样品的XRD图谱 (a) 2θ = 20o?60o; (b) 2θ = 31o?33o Figure2. XRD patterns of the Cu1.8–x Sbx S bulk samples (x = 0.00, 0.005, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04) at 2θ range of 20o?60o (a) and 31o?33o (b).