Bi1−xSrxCuSeO oxyselenides as promising thermoelectric materials

p-type BiCuSeO, a layered oxyselenide composed of conductive (Cu2Se2)2− layers alternately stacked with insulating (Bi2O2)2+ layers, shows an enhancement of the electrical conductivity after substituting Bi3+ by Sr2+, from 470 S m−1 (BiCuSeO) to 4.8×104 S m−1 (Bi0.85Sr0.15CuSeO) at 293 K. Coupled to high Seebeck coefficients, this leads to promising values of the thermoelectric power factor that exceeds 500 μW m−1 K−2 at 873 K. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of these layered compounds is lower than 1 W m−1 K−1 at 873 K. Maximum ZT values reach 0.76 at 873 K, making this family promising for thermoelectric applications in the medium temperature range.