--- _id: '9304' abstract: - lang: eng text: The high processing cost, poor mechanical properties and moderate performance of Bi2Te3–based alloys used in thermoelectric devices limit the cost-effectiveness of this energy conversion technology. Towards solving these current challenges, in the present work, we detail a low temperature solution-based approach to produce Bi2Te3-Cu2-xTe nanocomposites with improved thermoelectric performance. Our approach consists in combining proper ratios of colloidal nanoparticles and to consolidate the resulting mixture into nanocomposites using a hot press. The transport properties of the nanocomposites are characterized and compared with those of pure Bi2Te3 nanomaterials obtained following the same procedure. In contrast with most previous works, the presence of Cu2-xTe nanodomains does not result in a significant reduction of the lattice thermal conductivity of the reference Bi2Te3 nanomaterial, which is already very low. However, the introduction of Cu2-xTe yields a nearly threefold increase of the power factor associated to a simultaneous increase of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity at temperatures above 400 K. Taking into account the band alignment of the two materials, we rationalize this increase by considering that Cu2-xTe nanostructures, with a relatively low electron affinity, are able to inject electrons into Bi2Te3, enhancing in this way its electrical conductivity. The simultaneous increase of the Seebeck coefficient is related to the energy filtering of charge carriers at energy barriers within Bi2Te3 domains associated with the accumulation of electrons in regions nearby a Cu2-xTe/Bi2Te3 heterojunction. Overall, with the incorporation of a proper amount of Cu2-xTe nanoparticles, we demonstrate a 250% improvement of the thermoelectric figure of merit of Bi2Te3. acknowledgement: "This work was supported by the European Regional Development Funds and by the Generalitat de Catalunya through the project 2017SGR1246. Y.Z, C.X, M.L, K.X and X.H thank the China Scholarship Council for the scholarship support. MI acknowledges financial support from IST Austria. YL acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754411. ICN2\r\nacknowledges funding from Generalitat de Catalunya 2017 SGR 327 and the Spanish MINECO project ENE2017-85087-C3. ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa program from the Spanish MINECO (grant no. SEV-2017-0706) and is funded by the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. Part of the present work has been performed in the framework of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Materials Science PhD program." article_number: '129374' article_processing_charge: No article_type: original author: - first_name: Yu full_name: Zhang, Yu last_name: Zhang - first_name: Congcong full_name: Xing, Congcong last_name: Xing - first_name: Yu full_name: Liu, Yu id: 2A70014E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Liu orcid: 0000-0001-7313-6740 - first_name: Mengyao full_name: Li, Mengyao last_name: Li - first_name: Ke full_name: Xiao, Ke last_name: Xiao - first_name: Pablo full_name: Guardia, Pablo last_name: Guardia - first_name: Seungho full_name: Lee, Seungho id: BB243B88-D767-11E9-B658-BC13E6697425 last_name: Lee orcid: 0000-0002-6962-8598 - first_name: Xu full_name: Han, Xu last_name: Han - first_name: Ahmad full_name: Moghaddam, Ahmad last_name: Moghaddam - first_name: Joan J full_name: Roa, Joan J last_name: Roa - 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 - first_name: Kai full_name: Pan, Kai last_name: Pan - first_name: Mirko full_name: Prato, Mirko last_name: Prato - first_name: Ying full_name: Xie, Ying last_name: Xie - first_name: Andreu full_name: Cabot, Andreu last_name: Cabot citation: ama: Zhang Y, Xing C, Liu Y, et al. Influence of copper telluride nanodomains on the transport properties of n-type bismuth telluride. Chemical Engineering Journal. 2021;418(8). doi:10.1016/j.cej.2021.129374 apa: Zhang, Y., Xing, C., Liu, Y., Li, M., Xiao, K., Guardia, P., … Cabot, A. (2021). Influence of copper telluride nanodomains on the transport properties of n-type bismuth telluride. Chemical Engineering Journal. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2021.129374 chicago: Zhang, Yu, Congcong Xing, Yu Liu, Mengyao Li, Ke Xiao, Pablo Guardia, Seungho Lee, et al. “Influence of Copper Telluride Nanodomains on the Transport Properties of N-Type Bismuth Telluride.” Chemical Engineering Journal. Elsevier, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2021.129374. ieee: Y. Zhang et al., “Influence of copper telluride nanodomains on the transport properties of n-type bismuth telluride,” Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 418, no. 8. Elsevier, 2021. ista: Zhang Y, Xing C, Liu Y, Li M, Xiao K, Guardia P, Lee S, Han X, Moghaddam A, Roa JJ, Arbiol J, Ibáñez M, Pan K, Prato M, Xie Y, Cabot A. 2021. Influence of copper telluride nanodomains on the transport properties of n-type bismuth telluride. Chemical Engineering Journal. 418(8), 129374. mla: Zhang, Yu, et al. “Influence of Copper Telluride Nanodomains on the Transport Properties of N-Type Bismuth Telluride.” Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 418, no. 8, 129374, Elsevier, 2021, doi:10.1016/j.cej.2021.129374. short: Y. Zhang, C. Xing, Y. Liu, M. Li, K. Xiao, P. Guardia, S. Lee, X. Han, A. Moghaddam, J.J. Roa, J. Arbiol, M. Ibáñez, K. Pan, M. Prato, Y. Xie, A. Cabot, Chemical Engineering Journal 418 (2021). date_created: 2021-04-04T22:01:20Z date_published: 2021-08-15T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-09-27T07:36:29Z day: '15' department: - _id: MaIb doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2021.129374 ec_funded: 1 external_id: isi: - '000655672000005' intvolume: ' 418' isi: 1 issue: '8' language: - iso: eng main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/271949 month: '08' oa: 1 oa_version: Submitted Version project: - _id: 260C2330-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: H2020 grant_number: '754411' name: ISTplus - Postdoctoral Fellowships publication: Chemical Engineering Journal publication_identifier: issn: - 1385-8947 publication_status: published publisher: Elsevier quality_controlled: '1' scopus_import: '1' status: public title: Influence of copper telluride nanodomains on the transport properties of n-type bismuth telluride type: journal_article user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 volume: 418 year: '2021' ...