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Low-Temperature-Processed Colloidal Quantum Dots as Building Blocks for Thermoelectrics
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Low-Temperature-Processed Colloidal Quantum Dots as Building Blocks for Thermoelectrics

Mohamad I. Nugraha, Hyunho Kim, Bin Sun, Md Azimul Haque, Francisco Pelayo Garcia de Arquer, Diego Rosas Villalva, Abdulrahman El-Labban, Edward H. Sargent, Husam N. Alshareef and Derya Baran
Advanced energy materials, v 9(13), 1803049
04 Apr 2019
url
https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201803049View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)

Abstract

Chemistry Chemistry, Physical Energy & Fuels Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Physics, Applied Physics, Condensed Matter Science & Technology Materials Science Physical Sciences Physics Technology
Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are demonstrated to be promising materials to realize high-performance thermoelectrics owing to their low thermal conductivity. The most studied CQD films, however, are using long ligands that require high processing and operation temperature (>400 degrees C) to achieve optimum thermoelectric performance. Here the thermoelectric properties of CQD films cross-linked using short ligands that allow strong inter-QD coupling are reported. Using the ligands, p-type thermoelectric solids are demonstrated with a high Seebeck coefficient and power factor of 400 mu V K-1 and 30 mu W m(-1) K-2, respectively, leading to maximum ZT of 0.02 at a lower measurement temperature (<400 K) and lower processing temperature (<300 degrees C). These ligands further reduce the annealing temperature to 175 degrees C, significantly increasing the Seebeck coefficient of the CQD films to 580 V K-1. This high Seebeck coefficient with a superior ZT near room temperature compared to previously reported high temperature-annealed CQD films is ascribed to the smaller grain size, which enables the retainment of quantum confinement and significantly increases the hole effective mass in the films. This study provides a pathway to approach quantum confinement for achieving a high Seebeck coefficient yet strong inter-QD coupling, which offers a step toward low-temperature-processed high-performance thermoelectric generators.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Chemistry, Physical
Energy & Fuels
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Physics, Applied
Physics, Condensed Matter
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