High Thermoelectric Performance Of Rapidly Microwave-Synthesized Sn1-Delta S

Phase-pure polycrystalline Sn1-delta S has been prepared using a one-step microwave-hydrothermal procedure. Its structural characterization by neutron powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopy shows an orthorhombic Pnma phase at room temperature with the presence of a significant amount of Sn vacancies (Sn0.87S), randomly located in the crystal structure. This work proves that this inexpensive 2D material, constituted by high abundance elements, is a promising candidate for thermoelectric applications. This is confirmed by its relatively high carrier density and good mobility (2.5 x 10(18) cm(-3) and 13 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) at room temperature, respectively) found in the microwave-hydrothermal-synthesized sample, which favours high thermoelectric performance. In addition, a remarkably high Seebeck coefficient (682 mu V K-1) combined with low electrical resistivity (5.6 x 10(-4) Omega m) and thermal conductivity (0.57 W m(-1) K-1) at 523 K produces a reasonably high figure of merit ZT of 0.76.