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Carbon effectively acts as a diffusion barrier in tetrahedrite thermoelectric devices. Hot pressing without jointing materials yielded the lowest contact resistance for improved performance.

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Solid State Physics
  • Energy Conversion

Background:

  • High electrical and thermal contact resistances significantly degrade thermoelectric device performance.
  • Effective diffusion barriers and optimized joining methods are essential for reliable thermoelectric device fabrication.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate carbon as a diffusion barrier for copper (Cu) / tetrahedrite (Cu11Mn1Sb4S13) electrical contacts.
  • To evaluate different fixation techniques and jointing materials for preparing low-resistance tetrahedrite/copper interfaces.

Main Methods:

  • Investigated carbon as a diffusion barrier between tetrahedrite and copper.
  • Prepared contacts using Ni/Ag conductive paints/resins and Zn-5wt% Al solder.
  • Explored manual, cold-pressing, and hot-pressing fixation techniques.
  • Measured contact resistance using a pulsed-current method.
  • Analyzed interfaces with microscopy (optical, SEM) and spectroscopy (EDS, XRD).
  • Performed COMSOL simulations to assess the impact of contact resistance on device power output.

Main Results:

  • Carbon demonstrated excellent performance as a diffusion barrier, preventing interfacial phase formation between tetrahedrite and copper.
  • Silver (Ag) water-based paint showed good results as a jointing material.
  • Hot pressing without any jointing material resulted in the lowest contact resistance values.
  • Simulations confirmed that high contact resistances severely reduce thermoelectric device power output.

Conclusions:

  • Carbon is a viable and effective diffusion barrier for tetrahedrite-based thermoelectric materials.
  • Hot pressing is the most reliable technique for achieving low-resistance electrical contacts in these systems.
  • Minimizing contact resistance is critical for maximizing the efficiency of thermoelectric devices.