Thermoelectric performance enhancement of eco-friendly Cu(2)Se through incorporating CB(4).

We have prepared Cu(2)Se + x wt% CB(4) composites with x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 by a hydrothermal method and hot-pressing technique. The structural and compositional analysis indicates that pure phase Cu(2)Se powders were synthesized and the densified layered bulk samples were obtained. Electrical properties testing showed that the sample with x = 0.5 has the high power factor of 0.886 mW m(-1) K(-2) due to its high Seebeck coefficient. Meanwhile, the thermal conductivity was suppressed to 0.6 W m(-1) K(-1) at 773 K. As a result, the final optimized ZT value of 1.46 at 773 K was achieved. These results suggest that CB(4) could be an alternative inclusion to improve effectively the thermoelectric performance of Cu(2)Se.