Preparation of High Temperature Thermoelectric Materials such as Chevrel-type and Stannite-type Sulfides

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24360314
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Metal making engineering
• Research Institution: Muroran Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: HIRAI Shinji 室蘭工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (10208796)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KUZUYA Toshihiro 室蘭工業大学, 大学院工学研究科, 助教 (00424945)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 資源供給安定性 / 低環境負荷 / 熱電材料 / 硫化物 / CZTS / 二次焼結

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We attempted to prepare stoichiometric sintered CZTS by using Cu2S, ZnS, and SnS2 as starting materials in a solid-phase reaction under a pressure of 20-80 MPa for 3.6 ks using a pulsed electric current sintering at 973 K. In addition, a second sintered compact was prepared by the following process: a compact previously sintered was crushed, and then, it was resintered under 50-80 MPa at 1073 K. Micropores were revealed by observation of the cross-sectional structure of the primary sintered compacts formed under a high pressure. In the secondary sintered compact, pores were not observed, indicating that a homogeneous compact was obtained. The resultant secondary sintered compact with Cu2.3Zn0.7SnS3.85 exhibits a dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 0.18 at 561 K. This value may increase as a high temperature and is greater than the previously reported values for Cu2.1Zn0.9SnS4 and Cu2ZnSnS4, respectively.

Free Research Field

材料物理化学