Issue 53, 2015

Is Cu3SbSe3 a promising thermoelectric material?

Abstract

Cu3SbSe3, a compound with an ultralow thermal conductivity, has been predicted as a promising thermoelectric material, but relevant experimental results are inadequate. In this work we studied the high-temperature thermoelectric properties of this ternary chalcogenide. An extremely low thermal conductivity was observed and a glass-like behavior was seen above an order–disorder transition. Possible mechanisms causing such an ultralow thermal conductivity were discussed concerning the disorder of Cu atoms. With a large band gap of ∼0.95 eV obtained by an optical absorption edge measurement, Cu3SbSe3 was found to be a nondegenerate p-type semiconductor, different from previous reports. A maximum zT of ∼0.25 was obtained at 650 K for Cu3SbSe3, which is much higher than the previously reported values, but this compound was considered inferior to Cu3SbSe4 in its thermoelectric performance by comparing some key physical parameters.

Graphical abstract: Is Cu3SbSe3 a promising thermoelectric material?

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Mar 2015
Accepted
06 May 2015
First published
06 May 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 42848-42854

Author version available

Is Cu3SbSe3 a promising thermoelectric material?

T. Wei, C. Wu, W. Sun, Y. Pan and J. Li, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 42848 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA03953C

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