The Importance of Surface Adsorbates in Solution‐Processed Thermoelectric Materials: The Case of SnSe

Advanced Materials, vol. 33, pp. e2106858

Abstract

Abstract Solution synthesis of particles emerges as an alternative to prepare thermoelectric materials with less demanding processing conditions than conventional solid‐state synthetic methods. However, solution synthesis generally involves the presence of additional molecules or ions belonging to the precursors or added to enable solubility and/or regulate nucleation and growth. These molecules or ions can end up in the particles as surface adsorbates and interfere in the material properties. This work demonstrates that ionic adsorbates, in particular Na+ ions, are electrostatically adsorbed in SnSe particles synthesized in water and play a crucial role not only in directing the material nano/microstructure but also in determining the transport properties of the consolidated material. In dense pellets prepared by sintering SnSe particles, Na remains within the crystal lattice as dopant, in dislocations, precipitates, and forming grain boundary complexions. These results highlight the importance of considering all the possible unintentional impurities to establish proper structure–property relationships and control material properties in solution‐processed thermoelectric materials.

Authors 11

1. Yu Liu

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   IST Austria Am Campus 1 Klosterneuburg 3400 Austria

   IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, 3400 Austria

2. Mariano Calcabrini

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   IST Austria Am Campus 1 Klosterneuburg 3400 Austria

   IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, 3400 Austria

3. Yuan Yu Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen I. Physikalisches Institut (IA) Sommerfeldstraße 14 52074 Aachen Germany

4. Aziz Genç

   Izmir Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering Faculty of Engineering İzmir Institute of Technology İzmir 35430 Turkey

5. Cheng Chang

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   IST Austria Am Campus 1 Klosterneuburg 3400 Austria

   IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, 3400 Austria

6. Tommaso Costanzo

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   IST Austria Am Campus 1 Klosterneuburg 3400 Austria

   IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, 3400 Austria

7. Tobias Kleinhanns

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   IST Austria Am Campus 1 Klosterneuburg 3400 Austria

   IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, 3400 Austria

8. Seungho Lee

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   IST Austria Am Campus 1 Klosterneuburg 3400 Austria

   IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, 3400 Austria

9. Jordi Llorca

   Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Energy Technologies Department of Chemical Engineering and Barcelona Research Center in Multiscale Science and Engineering Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Barcelona 08019 Spain

10. Oana Cojocaru‐Mirédin Aachen

    RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    RWTH Aachen I. Physikalisches Institut (IA) Sommerfeldstraße 14 52074 Aachen Germany

11. María Ibáñez corresponding

    Institute of Science and Technology Austria

    Affiliation as printed

    IST Austria Am Campus 1 Klosterneuburg 3400 Austria

    IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, 3400 Austria