Unveiling the Thermoelectric Performances of Zn1−xFexSe Nanoparticles Prepared by the Hydrothermal Method

first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Unveiling the Thermoelectric Performances of Zn1−xFexSe Nanoparticles Prepared by the Hydrothermal Method by Muhammad Isram 1,Valeria Demontis 2,3,*,Riccardo Magrin Maffei 1ORCID,Najaf Abbas Khan 4,Alessandro di Bona 5,Stefania Benedetti 5,Nasir Amin 4,Khalid Mahmood 4ORCID andFrancesco Rossella 1,* 1 Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Informatiche e Matematiche, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 213/a, 41125 Modena, Italy 2 NEST Laboratory, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza San Silvestro 12, 56127 Pisa, Italy 3 Department of Physics, University of Cagliari, S.P. Monserrato-Sestu, 09042 Monserrato, Italy 4 Department of Physics, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan 5 Istituto Nanoscienze—CNR-NANO, Centro di Ricerca S3, Via G. Campi 213/a, 41125 Modena, Italy * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed. Inorganics 2023, 11(7), 286; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11070286 Original submission received: 30 January 2023 / Revised: 24 June 2023 / Accepted: 27 June 2023 / Published: 2 July 2023 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Thermoelectric Materials) Downloadkeyboard_arrow_down Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract Fe2+-doped ZnSe nanoparticles, with varying concentrations of Fe2+ dopants, were prepared by the hydrothermal method and investigated using a multi-technique approach exploiting scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy, as well as measurement of the electrical transport properties and Seebeck coefficient (S). The doped nanoparticles appeared as variable-sized agglomerates on nanocrystallites upon SEM investigation for any doping level. Combined XRD and Raman analyses revealed the occurrence of a cubic structure in the investigated samples. Electric and thermoelectric (TE) transport investigations showed an increase in TE performance with an increase in Fe atom concentrations, which resulted in an enhancement of the power factors from 13 µWm−1K−2 to 120 µWm−1K−2 at room temperature. The results were also dependent on the operating temperature. The maximum power factor of 9 × 10−3 Wm−1K−2 was achieved at 150 °C for the highest explored doping value. The possible applications of these findings were discussed.