Ligand-mediated band engineering in bottom-up assembled SnTe nanocomposites for thermoelectric energy conversion
Ibáñez, Maria (EMPA-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)
Hasler, Roger (Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)
Genç, Aziz (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Liu, Yu (Institute of Science and Technology Austria)
Kuster, Beatrice (Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology)
Schuster, Maximilian (ETH Zürich. Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences)
Dobrozhan, Oleksandr (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Cadavid, Doris (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Cabot, Andreu (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Kovalenko, Maksym V. (ETH Zürich. Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences)

Date:	2019
Abstract:	The bottom-up assembly of colloidal nanocrystals is a versatile methodology to produce composite nanomaterials with precisely tuned electronic properties. Beyond the synthetic control over crystal domain size, shape, crystal phase, and composition, solution-processed nanocrystals allow exquisite surface engineering. This provides additional means to modulate the nanomaterial characteristics and particularly its electronic transport properties. For instance, inorganic surface ligands can be used to tune the type and concentration of majority carriers or to modify the electronic band structure. Herein, we report the thermoelectric properties of SnTe nanocomposites obtained from the consolidation of surface-engineered SnTe nanocrystals into macroscopic pellets. A CdSe-based ligand is selected to (i) converge the light and heavy bands through partial Cd alloying and (ii) generate CdSe nanoinclusions as a secondary phase within the SnTe matrix, thereby reducing the thermal conductivity. These SnTe-CdSe nanocomposites possess thermoelectric figures of merit of up to 1. 3 at 850 K, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest thermoelectric figure of merit reported for solution-processed SnTe.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SEV-2017-0706 European Commission 306733 European Commission 754411 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-1638 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-327 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2017-85087-C3
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió sotmesa a revisió
Subject:	Colloidal nanocrystals ; Crystal domain size ; Electronic band structure ; Electronic transport properties ; Solution-processed ; Surface engineering ; Thermoelectric figure of merit ; Thermoelectric properties
Published in:	Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 141, Issue 20 (May 2019) , p. 8025-8029, ISSN 1520-5126

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b01394
PMID: 31017419

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
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