Highly Stabilized and Efficient Thermoelectric Copper Selenide

Overview

Journal Nat Mater

Date 2024 Mar 7

PMID 38454027

Authors

Haihua Hu

Yiwei Ju

Jincheng Yu

Zechao Wang

Jun Pei

Hao-Cheng Thong

Jing-Wei Li

Bowen Cai

Fengming Liu

Zhanran Han

Bin Su

Hua-Lu Zhuang

Yilin Jiang

Hezhang Li

Qian Li

Huijuan Zhao

Bo-Ping Zhang

Jing Zhu

Jing-Feng Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The liquid-like feature of thermoelectric superionic conductors is a double-edged sword: the long-range migration of ions hinders the phonon transport, but their directional segregation greatly impairs the service stability. We report the synergetic enhancement in figure of merit (ZT) and stability in CuSe-based superionic conductors enabled by ion confinement effects. Guided by density functional theory and nudged elastic band simulations, we elevated the activation energy to restrict ion migrations through a cation-anion co-doping strategy. We reduced the carrier concentration without sacrificing the low thermal conductivity, obtaining a ZT of ∼3.0 at 1,050 K. Notably, the fabricated device module maintained a high conversion efficiency of up to ∼13.4% for a temperature difference of 518 K without obvious degradation after 120 cycles. Our work could be generalized to develop electrically and thermally robust functional materials with ionic migration characteristics.

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