Chlorine-enabled electron doping in solution-synthesised SnSe thermoelectric nanomaterials

Abstract

An aqueous solution method is developed for the facile synthesis of Cl-containing SnSe nanoparticles in 10 g quantities per batch. The particle size and Cl concentration of the nanoparticles can be efficiently tuned as a function of reaction duration. Hot pressing produces n-type Cl-doped SnSe nanostructured compacts with thermoelectric power factors optimized via control of Cl dopant concentration. This approach, combining an energy-efficient solution synthesis with hot pressing, provides a simple, rapid, and low-cost route to high performance n-type SnSe thermoelectric materials.