Thermoelectric Properties of Metal Chalcogenides Nanosheets and Nanofilms Grown by Chemical and Physical Routes

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) materials can realize significant energy savings by generating electricity from untapped waste heat. However, the coupling of the thermoelectric parameters, unfortunately, limits their efficiency and practical applications. Metal chalcogenide nanosheets have recently attracted considerable attention of thermoelectric community owing to their low thermal conductivity and high Seebeck coefficient. Here, the advantages of nanosheets materials for enhancing the thermoelectric performance, the transport mechanism and optimization strategies with chemical and physical synthetic routes are discussed with a major focus on Bi2Te3, SnSe, SnSe2 and several other layered intergrowth compounds and van der Waals heterostructures. Additionally, possible research directions to enhance the thermoelectric performance of 2D layered nanosheet structures are briefly discussed.