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Nanostructured kesterite (Cu2ZnSnS4) for applications in thermoelectric devices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2019

E. Isotta Open the ORCID record for E. Isotta [Opens in a new window] ,
N. M. Pugno Open the ORCID record for N. M. Pugno [Opens in a new window]  and
P. Scardi Open the ORCID record for P. Scardi [Opens in a new window]
E. Isotta
Affiliation:
Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy Laboratory of Bio-Inspired and Graphene Nanomechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy
N. M. Pugno
Affiliation:
Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy Laboratory of Bio-Inspired and Graphene Nanomechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy Ket-Lab, Edoardo Amaldi Foundation, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Rome, Italy School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, E1-4NS London, United Kingdom
P. Scardi*
Affiliation:
Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy
*
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Kesterite (Cu2ZnSnS4, CZTS) powders were produced by reactive high-energy milling, starting from stoichiometric mixtures of the elemental components. CZTS forms fine crystals with a cubic structure, which evolves to the stable tetragonal form after thermal treatment. Tablets were produced by cold pressing of the ball milled powder, and sintered up to 660 °C. Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal diffusivity were measured on the sintered tablets, pointing out the positive effect of CZTS nanostructure and of the rather large fraction of porosity: thermal conductivity is rather low (from ~0.8 W/(m K) at 20 °C to ~0.42 W/(m K) at 500 °C), while electrical conduction is not seriously hindered (electrical resistivity from ~8500 µΩ m at 40 °C to ~2000 µΩ m at 400 °C). Preliminary results of thermoelectric behavior are promising.

Keywords

thermoelectric materialsCZTSnanocrystalline kesteriteball millinghigh-temperature energy harvestingcubic to tetragonal transition
Type
Technical Articles
Information
Powder Diffraction , Volume 34 , Supplement S1 , September 2019 , pp. S42 - S47
Copyright
Copyright © International Centre for Diffraction Data 2019 

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