Materials (May 2023)

Copper-Based Diamond-like Thermoelectric Compounds: Looking Back and Stepping Forward

  • Wenying Wang,
  • Lin Bo,
  • Junliang Zhu,
  • Degang Zhao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16093512
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 9
p. 3512

Abstract

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The research on thermoelectric (TE) materials has a long history. Holding the advantages of high elemental abundance, lead-free and easily tunable transport properties, copper-based diamond-like (CBDL) thermoelectric compounds have attracted extensive attention from the thermoelectric community. The CBDL compounds contain a large number of representative candidates for thermoelectric applications, such as CuInGa2, Cu2GeSe3, Cu3SbSe4, Cu12SbSe13, etc. In this study, the structure characteristics and TE performances of typical CBDLs were briefly summarized. Several common synthesis technologies and effective strategies to improve the thermoelectric performances of CBDL compounds were introduced. In addition, the latest developments in thermoelectric devices based on CBDL compounds were discussed. Further developments and prospects for exploring high-performance copper-based diamond-like thermoelectric materials and devices were also presented at the end.

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