LAUSR

We investigated the effect of NaCl doping on the thermoelectric properties of p-type Sn1−xNaxSeClx (x = 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04) prepared by a method which combines rapid induction melting and rapid hot pressing. After introducing the NaCl into the SnSe system, the carrier concentration of SnSe is significantly increased from ∼4.55 × 1017 cm−3 to ∼3.95 × 1019 cm−3 at 300 K. An electrical conductivity of ∼102.5 S cm−1 was obtained at 473 K by addition of 2 mol.% NaCl. It was found that Cl was effective in reducing the thermal conductivity by inducing abundant defects. A maximum ZT value of 0.84 was achieved in the Na0.005Sn0.995SeCl0.005 sample at 810 K. This suggests that doping with NaCl is a facile and cost-effective method in optimizing the thermoelectric properties of SnSe materials.