High thermoelectric performance for an Ag2Se-based material prepared by a wet chemical method

Herein, a facile solution chemical route has been developed for synthesis of Ag2Se-based alloy nanocrystals. The maximum thermoelectric figure of merit reaches 0.7 at 317 K for Ag2Se, which is the largest value reported by a wet chemical method. Sn doping further improves ZT to 0.9 at 300 K, realized by the simultaneous modulation of transport and thermal properties. Our results indicate that cycling and Sn doping are efficient ways to enhance the thermoelectric performance of Ag2Se.