Copper telluride with manipulated carrier concentrations for high-performance solid-state thermoelectrics

摘要

This study proposed a strategy for effectively diminishing the carrier concentration in Cu_(2)Te by introducing graphene sheets,Based on thermoelectric property measurements and single parabolic band modeling,the incorporated graphene effectively reduced the carrier concentration,not only enhancing the thermoelectric performance of the Cu_(2)Te/graphene composite but also substantially improving its figure of merit up to ~1.47 at 1000 K,which is 268% higher than that of pristine Cu_(2)Te,This study gives an insight into the control of carrier concentration and thermoelectric properties in Cu_(2)Te,and it could be extended to other copper chalcogenides for excellent thermoelectrics.