@article{10042,
  abstract     = {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.},
  author       = {Liu, Yu and Calcabrini, Mariano and Yu, Yuan and Lee, Seungho and Chang, Cheng and David, Jérémy and Ghosh, Tanmoy and Spadaro, Maria Chiara and Xie, Chenyang and Cojocaru-Mirédin, Oana and Arbiol, Jordi and Ibáñez, Maria},
  issn         = {1936-086X},
  journal      = {ACS Nano},
  keywords     = {tin selenide, nanocomposite, grain growth, Zener pinning, thermoelectricity, annealing, solution processing},
  number       = {1},
  pages        = {78--88},
  publisher    = {American Chemical Society },
  title        = {{Defect engineering in solution-processed polycrystalline SnSe leads to high thermoelectric performance}},
  doi          = {10.1021/acsnano.1c06720},
  volume       = {16},
  year         = {2022},
}

@article{15265,
  abstract     = {The highly enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit, zT ≈ 2.6 at 573 K, obtained recently in Cd-doped polycrystalline AgSbTe2 by Roychowdhury et al. ( Science 2021, 371, 722) brings it to the forefront of thermoelectric and energy materials research. Ag/Sb cationic ordering in polycrystalline AgSbTe2 was a challenging issue for a long time: their ordered arrangement in the cationic sublattice in polycrystalline samples remained elusive despite multiple theoretical predictions and experimental studies. Recently, selective cation doping has been used to enhance the Ag/Sb ordering, and cation ordered nanoscale (2–4 nm) domains were observed in polycrystalline AgSbTe2, which reduce lattice thermal conductivity. The enhanced cation ordering also delocalizes disorder-induced localized electronic states, and consequently the electronic transport enhances. In this Focus Review, we provide the details of the rational design of a high-performance thermoelectric material using the recently developed atomic order–disorder optimization strategy with AgSbTe2 as an example. Atomic disorder is ubiquitous in most thermoelectric materials, and the atomic order–disorder optimization strategy applies to a large variety of thermoelectric materials.},
  author       = {Ghosh, Tanmoy and Roychowdhury, Subhajit and Dutta, Moinak and Biswas, Kanishka},
  issn         = {2380-8195},
  journal      = {ACS Energy Letters},
  keywords     = {Materials Chemistry, Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Fuel Technology, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Chemistry (miscellaneous)},
  number       = {8},
  pages        = {2825--2837},
  publisher    = {American Chemical Society},
  title        = {{High-performance thermoelectric energy conversion: A tale of atomic ordering in AgSbTe2}},
  doi          = {10.1021/acsenergylett.1c01184},
  volume       = {6},
  year         = {2021},
}