Thermoelectric performance enhancement of eco-friendly Cu₂Se through incorporating CB₄

We have prepared Cu₂Se + x wt% CB₄ 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 Cu₂Se 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 CB₄ could be an alternative inclusion to improve effectively the thermoelectric performance of Cu₂Se.