Boosting Thermoelectric Performance in Nanocrystalline Ternary Skutterudite Thin Films through Metallic CoTe2 Integration.

Metal-semiconductor nanocomposites have emerged as a viable strategy for concurrently tailoring both thermal and electronic transport properties of established thermoelectric materials, ultimately achieving synergistic performance. In this investigation, a series of nanocomposite thin films were synthesized, embedding metallic cobalt telluride (CoTe2) nanophase within the nanocrystalline ternary skutterudite (Co(Ge1.22Sb0.22)Te1.58 or CGST) matrix. Our approach harnessed composition fluctuation-induced phase separation and in situ growth during thermal annealing to seamlessly integrate the metallic phase. The distinctive band structures of both materials have developed an ohmic-type contact characteristic at the interface, which raised carrier density considerably yet negligibly affected the mobility counterpart, leading to a substantial improvement in electrical conductivity. The intricate balance in transport properties is further influenced by the metallic CoTe2 phase's role in diminishing lattice thermal conductivity. The presence of the metallic phase instigates enhanced phonon scattering at the interface boundaries. Consequently, a 2-fold enhancement in the thermoelectric figure of merit (zT ∼ 1.30) is attained with CGST-7 wt. % CoTe2 nanocomposite film at 655 K compared to that of pristine CGST.

Atomistic insights into highly active reconstructed edges of monolayer 2H-WSe2 photocatalyst.

Ascertaining the function of in-plane intrinsic defects and edge atoms is necessary for developing efficient low-dimensional photocatalysts. We report the wireless photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CH4 over reconstructed edge atoms of monolayer 2H-WSe2 artificial leaves. Our first-principles calculations demonstrate that reconstructed and imperfect edge configurations enable CO2 binding to form linear and bent molecules. Experimental results show that the solar-to-fuel quantum efficiency is a reciprocal function of the flake size. It also indicates that the consumed electron rate per edge atom is two orders of magnitude larger than the in-plane intrinsic defects. Further, nanoscale redox mapping at the monolayer WSe2-liquid interface confirms that the edge is the most preferred region for charge transfer. Our results pave the way for designing a new class of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides with reconstructed edges as a non-precious co-catalyst for wired or wireless hydrogen evolution or CO2 reduction reactions.