Liquid-Solid Interface Reactions Drive Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance in Ag₂Se.

ABSTRACT: Ag₂Se is a promising n-type thermoelectric material, but its performance is limited by excessive carrier concentration, compositional inhomogeneity, and phase instability, challenges rooted in a narrow homogeneity range and uncontrolled Ag⁺ diffusion in the superionic phase. Here, we address these issues by exploiting liquid-solid interface reactions using CdSe complexes that remove surface excess Ag to yield stoichiometric Ag₂Se and generate CdSe nanodomains that inhibit Ag⁺ diffusion and constrain grain growth. The resulting Ag₂Se-CdSe nanocomposites exhibit a reproducible, stable figure of merit (zT) of 1.04 between 300 and 390 K. Beyond demonstrating high performance, we elucidate the interfacial chemical reactions that give

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12412162 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature