Copper zinc sulfide (Cu-Zn-S) nanoparticles are an intriguing chalcogenide based semiconductor with potential applications in thermoelectric materials, which can be used to harvest otherwise wasted excess heat energy. While this class of chalcogenide cannot compete with optimal materials (such as (BixSb1-x)2Te3), Cu-Zn-S particles are highly sustainable because of the large abundance of these elements and their low toxicity, allowing feasible and widespread use. The Cu-Zn-S nanoparticle system was studied by using a wet chemical synthetic technique to create particles with a range of compositions. The particles display an anisotropic disc shape that readily self-assemble into large ordered three dimensional arrays, providing a feasible route towards large scale device creation. The resulting materials were subsequently characterized to study the thermoelectric properties, revealing a remarkable tunable nature that is highly dependent on the nanoparticle composition. The results are discussed in terms of the composition dependent nanoparticle semiconducting properties, focusing on use for thermoelectric devices. The materials have the potential to be used in a broad range of thermoelectric applications.

Cu-Zn-S nanoparticles for sustainable thermoelectric energy devices

246th National Meeting (2013)

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