Phase transitions of thermoelectric FexCu12−xSb4Se13
摘要
Cu–Sb–Se ternary chalcogenide compounds have garnered interest as potential thermoelectric materials because of their low cost and environmental benefits. Among these, Cu12Sb4Se13 (hakite), Cu3SbSe4 (permingeatite), Cu3SbSe3 (bytizite), and CuSbSe2 (pribramite) stand out as promising candidates because of their narrow band gaps and low thermal conductivity. However, Cu12Sb4Se13 is unstable in its pure form because of a charge imbalance in its structure, where all copper atoms exist in the monovalent state (Cu+). This instability restricts its potential for thermoelectric applications. In this study, we sought to stabilize Cu12Sb4Se13 by partially substituting Fe2+ ions for Cu+ ions, aiming to compensate for the charge imbalance and synthesize FexCu12−xSb4Se13 (0.5 ≤ x ≤ 2). X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that adding Fe led to the formation of bytizite and CuFeSe2 (eskebornite), with the pribramite phase emerging as the Fe content increased. Thermal analysis using differential scanning calorimetry revealed that for samples with Fe content between x = 0.5 and 1.5, bytizite and permingeatite phases coexisted. In the Fe2Cu10Sb4Se13 sample, three phases were identified: bytizite, permingeatite, and pribramite. This suggests that synthesizing hakite through charge compensation with Fe was not feasible, as Fe substitution resulted in multiple phase formations rather than stabilizing the hakite phase. In terms of thermoelectric properties, the FeCu11Sb4Se13 sample exhibited a power factor of 80 μWm−1K−2 and a maximum figure of merit (ZT) of 0.14 at 623 K.