Low temperature thermoelectric properties of p-type copper selenide with Ni, Te and Zn dopants

Thermoelectric figure of merit (a) of 0.14 at 200 K is achieved in p-type a-phase copper selenide (Cu2Se) parent compound made by a ball milling and hot pressing process which exhibits layered structure material. This figure of merit is higher than the conventional p-type TE material bismuth antimony at this temperature range. The broad maxima in the electrical resistivity data around 100 K indicates a possible charge density wave (CDW) transition and Peierls distortion, however, such kind of anomalies were not observed in other transport properties. These features suggest that p-type alpha-Cu2Se could be a promising thermoelectric material at low temperatures. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.