Rapid Synthesis of Thermoelectric SnSe Thin Films by MPCVD

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a rapid, catalyst-free method using MPCVD to synthesize high-quality SnSe thin films with promising thermoelectric properties, potentially enabling faster production of thermoelectric materials.

Contribution

It introduces a novel MPCVD process for quick, catalyst-free growth of SnSe thin films with high thermoelectric performance, expanding synthesis techniques for IV-VI compounds.

Findings

SnSe thin films are orthorhombic and mainly along the (111) direction.

Power factor reaches 3.98 μW cm-1K-2 at 600 K.

Method enables rapid synthesis of thermoelectric materials.

Abstract

Microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) has been traditionally used to synthesize carbon-based materials such as diamonds, carbon nanotubes and graphene. Here we report that a rapid and catalyst-free growth of SnSe thin films can be achieved by using single-mode MPCVD with appropriate source materials. The analysis combing microscope images, X-ray diffraction patterns and lattice vibration modes shows that the grown thin films were composed of orthorhombic structured SnSe polycrystals mainly along the (111) direction. Further thermoelectric (TE) characterizations reveal that the power factor of the SnSe films reached 3.98 {\mu}W cm-1K-2 at 600 K, comparable to the highest reported values of SnSe thin films. Our results may open an avenue for rapid synthesis of new types of materials such as IV-VI compounds and be useful for TE application of these materials.