Enhanced figure of merit in (AgCrSe2)0.75(CuCrSe2)0.25

The effect of CuCrSe2 addition in AgCrSe2 has been studied in the temperature range 300K to 700K. The AgCrSe2 itself is a very good thermoelectric material; a small amount 25% of CuCrSe2 addition significantly improves the thermoelectric properties. The electrical resistivity (ρ) of the material was found to reduce from 296μωm to for AgCrSe2 to 186μωm for (AgCrSe2)0.75(CuCrSe2)0.25. Although the seebeck coefficient (S) of both the remains unaltered at 700K, the Power Factor (i.e. S2/ρ) increases from 133μW/m-K2 to 220μW/m-K2. The (AgCrSe2)0.75(CuCrSe2)0.25 also has a lower thermal conductivity (κ) than that of AgCrSe2. Therefore as a result dimensionless figure of merit (zT) was enhanced from 0.8 to 1.4 at 700 K.