Low Temperature Thermoelectric Properties of Co- and Cr- doped CuAgSe

TL;DR

This study investigates how doping CuAgSe with Co and Cr affects its thermoelectric properties, revealing high sensitivity and tunability, which supports its potential for low-temperature thermoelectric applications.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on Co- and Cr-doped CuAgSe, demonstrating the effects of chemical substitution on thermoelectric performance.

Findings

Thermoelectric properties are highly sensitive to specific dopants.

Doping enhances thermoelectric performance and tunability.

CuAgSe remains a promising low-temperature thermoelectric material.

Abstract

High mobility phonon-glass semimetal $CuAgSe$ has shown promise in recent years as a potential low-temperature thermoelectric material. It exhibits reasonably strong thermoelectric performance as well as an extremely high carrier mobility, both of which are enhanced when the material is doped with Ni at the Cu sites. The exact mechanism by which these enhancements result; however, is unclear. In order to further investigate the effects of chemical substitution on the material's thermoelectric properties, we have prepared and performed various measurements on $CuAgSe$ samples doped with Co and Cr according to the following compositional formulas: $Cu_{1-x}Co_{x}AgSe$ $(x=0.02, 0.05, 0.10)$ and $Cu_{1-x}Cr_{x}AgSe$ $(x=0.02, 0.05)$. Measurements of temperature and magnetic field dependent thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, and Seebeck coefficient will be discussed. Our results reveal a remarkable sensitivity of $CuAgSe$'s thermoelectric properties to chemical doping in general as well as a particular sensitivity to specific dopants. This demonstrated tunability of $CuAgSe$'s various properties furthers the case that high mobility phonon glass-semimetals are strong candidates for potential low temperature thermoelectric applications.