Investigation of the formation of Cu4SnS4 using mechanical alloying and heat-treatment for thermoelectric conversion

Dai Le; Tien Anh Nguyen; Kieu Oanh Nguyen Thi; Bang Le; Long Bui

doi:10.15625/2525-2518/19189

Author affiliations

Authors

Le Van Dai School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 1 Dai Co Viet, Bạch Mai, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Nguyen Tien Anh School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 1 Dai Co Viet, Bạch Mai, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 1 Dai Co Viet, Bạch Mai, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Le Thi Bang School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 1 Dai Co Viet, Bạch Mai, Ha Noi, Viet Nam https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2518-5473
Bui Duc Long School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1792-7956

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15625/2525-2518/19189

Keywords:

Thermoelectric materials, Chalcogenide, Cu4SnS4, Synthesis, Spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) material is capable of directly converting heat energy into electricity without emitting gas. Cu-based chalcogenide materials, in particularly Cu₄SnS₄ are potential candidates for TE application due to their low thermal conductivity ( ), relatively high Sebeeck coefficient (S) and suitable bandgap energy, and composition of earth abundant, low cost, and less toxic elements. In this research, Cu₄SnS₄was synthesized using mechanical alloying method from Cu, Sn and S powders for different milling duration from 0 hour, 8 hours, 16 hours, and 20 hours in high purity Ar atmosphere. The 16 h-milling powder was heat-treated for investigation the phase transformation and sintered using spark plasma sintering (SPS) for TE properties characterization. As the results, the particle sizes of milled powders were rapidly decreased after 8 h milling and slightly decreased with further increasing in milling duration up to 16 hours and 20 hours. Cu₃SnS₄ began to form after milling for 8 hours and completed formation at 16 hours. With prolonged milling duration to 20 hours, it was still not possible to detect any trace formation of Cu₄SnS_4. After heat-treatment at 673 K, the Cu₃SnS₄ phase of 16 h-milling powder was completely converted to Cu₄SnS₄. The electrical conductivity ( , Seebeck coefficient and power factor (PF) of sintered Cu₄SnS₄ sample increased with the increase of measured temperature, reaching maximum values of 1207 S m^-1, 250 μV K^-1 and 75.5 μW K^-2m^-1at 723 K, respectively

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