TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding nanostructures in thermoelectric materials
T2 - An electron microscopy study of AgPb18SbSe20 crystals
AU - Lioutas, Christos B.
AU - Frangis, Nikolaos
AU - Todorov, Iliya
AU - Chung, Duck Young
AU - Kanatzidis, Mercouri
PY - 2010/10/12
Y1 - 2010/10/12
N2 - The characterization and understanding of the presence of nanostructuring in bulk thermoelectric materials requires real space atomic level information. We report electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies of crystals of the system AgPb18SbSe20 (=18PbSe + AgSbSe2) which reveal that this system is nanostructured rather than a solid solution. Nanocrystals of varying sizes are found, endotaxially grown in the matrix of PbSe (phase A), and consist of two phases, a cubic one (phase B) and a tetragonal one (phase C). Well-defined coherent interfaces between the phases in the same nanocrystals are observed. On the basis of the results of combined electron crystallography techniques, we propose reasonable structural models for the phases B and C. There are significant differences in the nanostructuring chemistry between AgPb18SbSe 20 and the telluride analog AgPb18SbTe20 (LAST-18).
AB - The characterization and understanding of the presence of nanostructuring in bulk thermoelectric materials requires real space atomic level information. We report electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies of crystals of the system AgPb18SbSe20 (=18PbSe + AgSbSe2) which reveal that this system is nanostructured rather than a solid solution. Nanocrystals of varying sizes are found, endotaxially grown in the matrix of PbSe (phase A), and consist of two phases, a cubic one (phase B) and a tetragonal one (phase C). Well-defined coherent interfaces between the phases in the same nanocrystals are observed. On the basis of the results of combined electron crystallography techniques, we propose reasonable structural models for the phases B and C. There are significant differences in the nanostructuring chemistry between AgPb18SbSe 20 and the telluride analog AgPb18SbTe20 (LAST-18).
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U2 - 10.1021/cm102016j
DO - 10.1021/cm102016j
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77957778192
SN - 0897-4756
VL - 22
SP - 5630
EP - 5635
JO - Chemistry of Materials
JF - Chemistry of Materials
IS - 19
ER -