Thermoelectric properties of Cu2Sex prepared by solution phase methods and spark plasma sintering

Cu-Se compounds have attracted more attentions as a low-cost, low toxicity thermoelectric materials. In this work, p-type Cu2Sex compound powders were prepared by solution syntheses, including the wet chemistry method and hydrothermal synthesis method. The reaction mechanisms were investigated, showing that the NaOH contents affected the phase structure of the final product. Polycrystalline Cu2Sex bulk materials were obtained by densifying the powders using spark plasma sintering (SPS) and obtained the maximum ZT value of 0.75 at 623 K, which is currently the highest reported value for the Cu-Se system at this temperature. We also found that the introduced oxides could suppress the long-range migration of Cu ions in Cu-Se system to avoid the decomposition of the materials. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.