---
_id: '10042'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: SnSe has emerged as one of the most promising materials for thermoelectric
    energy conversion due to its extraordinary performance in its single-crystal form
    and its low-cost constituent elements. However, to achieve an economic impact,
    the polycrystalline counterpart needs to replicate the performance of the single
    crystal. Herein, we optimize the thermoelectric performance of polycrystalline
    SnSe produced by consolidating solution-processed and surface-engineered SnSe
    particles. In particular, the SnSe particles are coated with CdSe molecular complexes
    that crystallize during the sintering process, forming CdSe nanoparticles. The
    presence of CdSe nanoparticles inhibits SnSe grain growth during the consolidation
    step due to Zener pinning, yielding a material with a high density of grain boundaries.
    Moreover, the resulting SnSe–CdSe nanocomposites present a large number of defects
    at different length scales, which significantly reduce the thermal conductivity.
    The produced SnSe–CdSe nanocomposites exhibit thermoelectric figures of merit
    up to 2.2 at 786 K, which is among the highest reported for solution-processed
    SnSe.
acknowledgement: 'This work was financially supported by IST Austria and the Werner
  Siemens Foundation. Y.L. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon
  2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement
  No. 754411. S.L. and M.C. received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
  research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement
  No. 665385. J.D. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
  and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 665919
  (P-SPHERE) cofunded by Severo Ochoa Programme. C.C. acknowledges funding from the
  FWF “Lise Meitner Fellowship” grant agreement M 2889-N. Y.Y. and O.C.-M. acknowledge
  the financial support from DFG within the project SFB 917: Nanoswitches. M.C.S.
  received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
  programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754510 (PROBIST)
  and the Severo Ochoa programme. J.D. received funding from the European Union’s
  Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie
  grant agreement No. 665919 (P-SPHERE) cofunded by Severo Ochoa Programme. The ICN2
  is funded by the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya and by the Severo Ochoa
  program of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness (MINECO,
  grant no. SEV-2017-0706). ICN2 acknowledges funding from Generalitat de Catalunya
  2017 SGR 327 and the Spanish MINECO project NANOGEN (PID2020-116093RB-C43). This
  project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
  program under grant agreement No. 823717-ESTEEM3. The FIB sample preparation was
  conducted in the LMA-INA-Universidad de Zaragoza.'
article_processing_charge: Yes (via OA deal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Yu
  full_name: Liu, Yu
  id: 2A70014E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Liu
  orcid: 0000-0001-7313-6740
- first_name: Mariano
  full_name: Calcabrini, Mariano
  id: 45D7531A-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Calcabrini
  orcid: 0000-0003-4566-5877
- first_name: Yuan
  full_name: Yu, Yuan
  last_name: Yu
- first_name: Seungho
  full_name: Lee, Seungho
  id: BB243B88-D767-11E9-B658-BC13E6697425
  last_name: Lee
  orcid: 0000-0002-6962-8598
- first_name: Cheng
  full_name: Chang, Cheng
  id: 9E331C2E-9F27-11E9-AE48-5033E6697425
  last_name: Chang
  orcid: 0000-0002-9515-4277
- first_name: Jérémy
  full_name: David, Jérémy
  last_name: David
- first_name: Tanmoy
  full_name: Ghosh, Tanmoy
  id: a5fc9bc3-feff-11ea-93fe-e8015a3c7e9d
  last_name: Ghosh
- first_name: Maria Chiara
  full_name: Spadaro, Maria Chiara
  last_name: Spadaro
- first_name: Chenyang
  full_name: Xie, Chenyang
  last_name: Xie
- first_name: Oana
  full_name: Cojocaru-Mirédin, Oana
  last_name: Cojocaru-Mirédin
- first_name: Jordi
  full_name: Arbiol, Jordi
  last_name: Arbiol
- first_name: Maria
  full_name: Ibáñez, Maria
  id: 43C61214-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Ibáñez
  orcid: 0000-0001-5013-2843
citation:
  ama: Liu Y, Calcabrini M, Yu Y, et al. Defect engineering in solution-processed
    polycrystalline SnSe leads to high thermoelectric performance. <i>ACS Nano</i>.
    2022;16(1):78-88. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c06720">10.1021/acsnano.1c06720</a>
  apa: Liu, Y., Calcabrini, M., Yu, Y., Lee, S., Chang, C., David, J., … Ibáñez, M.
    (2022). Defect engineering in solution-processed polycrystalline SnSe leads to
    high thermoelectric performance. <i>ACS Nano</i>. American Chemical Society .
    <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c06720">https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c06720</a>
  chicago: Liu, Yu, Mariano Calcabrini, Yuan Yu, Seungho Lee, Cheng Chang, Jérémy
    David, Tanmoy Ghosh, et al. “Defect Engineering in Solution-Processed Polycrystalline
    SnSe Leads to High Thermoelectric Performance.” <i>ACS Nano</i>. American Chemical
    Society , 2022. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c06720">https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c06720</a>.
  ieee: Y. Liu <i>et al.</i>, “Defect engineering in solution-processed polycrystalline
    SnSe leads to high thermoelectric performance,” <i>ACS Nano</i>, vol. 16, no.
    1. American Chemical Society , pp. 78–88, 2022.
  ista: Liu Y, Calcabrini M, Yu Y, Lee S, Chang C, David J, Ghosh T, Spadaro MC, Xie
    C, Cojocaru-Mirédin O, Arbiol J, Ibáñez M. 2022. Defect engineering in solution-processed
    polycrystalline SnSe leads to high thermoelectric performance. ACS Nano. 16(1),
    78–88.
  mla: Liu, Yu, et al. “Defect Engineering in Solution-Processed Polycrystalline SnSe
    Leads to High Thermoelectric Performance.” <i>ACS Nano</i>, vol. 16, no. 1, American
    Chemical Society , 2022, pp. 78–88, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c06720">10.1021/acsnano.1c06720</a>.
  short: Y. Liu, M. Calcabrini, Y. Yu, S. Lee, C. Chang, J. David, T. Ghosh, M.C.
    Spadaro, C. Xie, O. Cojocaru-Mirédin, J. Arbiol, M. Ibáñez, ACS Nano 16 (2022)
    78–88.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2021-09-24T07:55:12Z
date_published: 2022-01-25T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-07T13:26:13Z
day: '25'
ddc:
- '540'
department:
- _id: MaIb
doi: 10.1021/acsnano.1c06720
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000767223400008'
  pmid:
  - '34549956'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 74f9c1aa5f95c0b992a4328e8e0247b4
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: cchlebak
  date_created: 2022-03-02T16:17:29Z
  date_updated: 2022-03-02T16:17:29Z
  file_id: '10808'
  file_name: 2022_ACSNano_Liu.pdf
  file_size: 9050764
  relation: main_file
  success: 1
file_date_updated: 2022-03-02T16:17:29Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '        16'
isi: 1
issue: '1'
keyword:
- tin selenide
- nanocomposite
- grain growth
- Zener pinning
- thermoelectricity
- annealing
- solution processing
language:
- iso: eng
month: '01'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 78-88
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 260C2330-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '754411'
  name: ISTplus - Postdoctoral Fellowships
- _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '665385'
  name: International IST Doctoral Program
- _id: 9B8F7476-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A
  name: 'HighTE: The Werner Siemens Laboratory for the High Throughput Discovery of
    Semiconductors for Waste Heat Recovery'
- _id: 9B8804FC-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A
  grant_number: M02889
  name: Bottom-up Engineering for Thermoelectric Applications
publication: ACS Nano
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1936-086X
  issn:
  - 1936-0851
publication_status: published
publisher: 'American Chemical Society '
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  record:
  - id: '12885'
    relation: dissertation_contains
    status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Defect engineering in solution-processed polycrystalline SnSe leads to high
  thermoelectric performance
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 4359f0d1-fa6c-11eb-b949-802e58b17ae8
volume: 16
year: '2022'
...
---
_id: '10327'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Composite materials offer numerous advantages in a wide range of applications,
    including thermoelectrics. Here, semiconductor–metal composites are produced by
    just blending nanoparticles of a sulfide semiconductor obtained in aqueous solution
    and at room temperature with a metallic Cu powder. The obtained blend is annealed
    in a reducing atmosphere and afterward consolidated into dense polycrystalline
    pellets through spark plasma sintering (SPS). We observe that, during the annealing
    process, the presence of metallic copper activates a partial reduction of the
    PbS, resulting in the formation of PbS–Pb–CuxS composites. The presence of metallic
    lead during the SPS process habilitates the liquid-phase sintering of the composite.
    Besides, by comparing the transport properties of PbS, the PbS–Pb–CuxS composites,
    and PbS–CuxS composites obtained by blending PbS and CuxS nanoparticles, we demonstrate
    that the presence of metallic lead decisively contributes to a strong increase
    of the charge carrier concentration through spillover of charge carriers enabled
    by the low work function of lead. The increase in charge carrier concentration
    translates into much higher electrical conductivities and moderately lower Seebeck
    coefficients. These properties translate into power factors up to 2.1 mW m–1 K–2
    at ambient temperature, well above those of PbS and PbS + CuxS. Additionally,
    the presence of multiple phases in the final composite results in a notable decrease
    in the lattice thermal conductivity. Overall, the introduction of metallic copper
    in the initial blend results in a significant improvement of the thermoelectric
    performance of PbS, reaching a dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT
    = 1.1 at 750 K, which represents about a 400% increase over bare PbS. Besides,
    an average ZTave = 0.72 in the temperature range 320–773 K is demonstrated.
acknowledgement: This work was supported by the European Regional Development Funds.
  M.L., Y.Z., X.H., and K.X. thank the China Scholarship Council for scholarship support.
  M. I. has been financially supported by IST Austria and the Werner Siemens Foundation.
  Y.L. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
  program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754411. J.L. is a Serra
  Húnter fellow and is grateful to ICREA Academia program and projects MICINN/FEDER
  RTI2018-093996-B-C31 and GC 2017 SGR 128. ICN2 acknowledges funding from Generalitat
  de Catalunya 2017 SGR 327 and the Spanish MINECO project NANOGEN (PID2020-116093RB-C43).
  ICN2 was supported by the Severo Ochoa program from Spanish MINECO (grant no. SEV-2017-0706)
  and was funded by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. X.H. thanks China
  Scholarship Council for scholarship support (201804910551). Part of the present
  work was performed in the framework of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Materials
  Science Ph.D. program.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Mengyao
  full_name: Li, Mengyao
  last_name: Li
- first_name: Yu
  full_name: Liu, Yu
  id: 2A70014E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Liu
  orcid: 0000-0001-7313-6740
- first_name: Yu
  full_name: Zhang, Yu
  last_name: Zhang
- first_name: Xu
  full_name: Han, Xu
  last_name: Han
- first_name: Ke
  full_name: Xiao, Ke
  last_name: Xiao
- first_name: Mehran
  full_name: Nabahat, Mehran
  last_name: Nabahat
- first_name: Jordi
  full_name: Arbiol, Jordi
  last_name: Arbiol
- first_name: Jordi
  full_name: Llorca, Jordi
  last_name: Llorca
- first_name: Maria
  full_name: Ibáñez, Maria
  id: 43C61214-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Ibáñez
  orcid: 0000-0001-5013-2843
- first_name: Andreu
  full_name: Cabot, Andreu
  last_name: Cabot
citation:
  ama: Li M, Liu Y, Zhang Y, et al. PbS–Pb–CuxS composites for thermoelectric application.
    <i>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces</i>. 2021;13(43):51373–51382. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c15609">10.1021/acsami.1c15609</a>
  apa: Li, M., Liu, Y., Zhang, Y., Han, X., Xiao, K., Nabahat, M., … Cabot, A. (2021).
    PbS–Pb–CuxS composites for thermoelectric application. <i>ACS Applied Materials
    and Interfaces</i>. American Chemical Society . <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c15609">https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c15609</a>
  chicago: Li, Mengyao, Yu Liu, Yu Zhang, Xu Han, Ke Xiao, Mehran Nabahat, Jordi Arbiol,
    Jordi Llorca, Maria Ibáñez, and Andreu Cabot. “PbS–Pb–CuxS Composites for Thermoelectric
    Application.” <i>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces</i>. American Chemical Society
    , 2021. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c15609">https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c15609</a>.
  ieee: M. Li <i>et al.</i>, “PbS–Pb–CuxS composites for thermoelectric application,”
    <i>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces</i>, vol. 13, no. 43. American Chemical
    Society , pp. 51373–51382, 2021.
  ista: Li M, Liu Y, Zhang Y, Han X, Xiao K, Nabahat M, Arbiol J, Llorca J, Ibáñez
    M, Cabot A. 2021. PbS–Pb–CuxS composites for thermoelectric application. ACS Applied
    Materials and Interfaces. 13(43), 51373–51382.
  mla: Li, Mengyao, et al. “PbS–Pb–CuxS Composites for Thermoelectric Application.”
    <i>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces</i>, vol. 13, no. 43, American Chemical
    Society , 2021, pp. 51373–51382, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c15609">10.1021/acsami.1c15609</a>.
  short: M. Li, Y. Liu, Y. Zhang, X. Han, K. Xiao, M. Nabahat, J. Arbiol, J. Llorca,
    M. Ibáñez, A. Cabot, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 13 (2021) 51373–51382.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2021-11-21T23:01:30Z
date_published: 2021-10-19T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-04-14T07:43:47Z
day: '19'
department:
- _id: MaIb
doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c15609
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000715852100070'
  pmid:
  - '34665616'
intvolume: '        13'
isi: 1
issue: '43'
keyword:
- CuxS
- PbS
- energy conversion
- nanocomposite
- nanoparticle
- solution synthesis
- thermoelectric
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://upcommons.upc.edu/bitstream/2117/363528/1/Pb%20mengyao.pdf
month: '10'
oa: 1
oa_version: Submitted Version
page: 51373–51382
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 260C2330-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '754411'
  name: ISTplus - Postdoctoral Fellowships
- _id: 9B8F7476-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A
  name: 'HighTE: The Werner Siemens Laboratory for the High Throughput Discovery of
    Semiconductors for Waste Heat Recovery'
publication: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1944-8252
  issn:
  - 1944-8244
publication_status: published
publisher: 'American Chemical Society '
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: PbS–Pb–CuxS composites for thermoelectric application
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 13
year: '2021'
...