Abstract
AbstractSince the discovery of the record figure of merit (ZT) of 2.6 ± 0.3 in tin selenide (SnSe), the material has attracted much attention in the field of thermoelectrics. This paper reports a novel pseudo‐3D printing technique to fabricate bulk SnSe thermoelectric elements, allowing for the fabrication of standard configuration thermoelectric generators. In contrast to fabrication examples presented to date, this technique is potentially very low‐cost and allows for facile, scalable, and rapid fabrication. Bulk SnSe thermoelectric elements are produced and characterized over a wide range of temperatures. An element printed from an ink with 4% organic binder produces the highest performance, with a ZT value of 1.7 (±0.25) at 758 K. This is the highest ZT reported of any printed thermoelectric material, and the first bulk printed material to operate at this temperature. Finally, a proof‐of‐concept, all printed SnSe thermoelectric generator is presented, producing 20 µW at 772 K.
Highlights
In the field of thermoelectric materials, the figure of merit (ZT) is used to compare the ability of materials to harvest heat energy (Equation (1))
This paper reports a novel pseudo-3D printing technique to fabricate bulk SnSe thermoelectric elements, allowing for the fabrication of standard configuration thermoelectric generators
P-type SnSe ink was produced with controllable grain sizes at low temperatures, an important step for printed SnSe thermoelectrics, photovoltaics, Li-ion and Na-ion batteries, and supercapacitors
Summary
In the field of thermoelectric materials, the figure of merit (ZT) is used to compare the ability of materials to harvest heat energy (Equation (1)). This technique has been studied for Bi2Te3.[28,29,30] Printing, with the notable exception of Kim et al.[30] who printed bulk Bi2Te3 samples with a ZT of up to 0.9 at 398 K, has only allowed for the fabrication of films in the order of 300 μm thick. The reports referenced here all use the low Earth abundant element Te and until now reports of SnSe have focused on single crystal ingots,[11,32] polycrystalline materials,[12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22] and thin films.[26,27,33]
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