Pulse irradiation synthesis of metal chalcogenides on flexible substrates for enhanced photothermoelectric performance.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38272917.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-44970-4 and PMC identifier 10810900.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
High synthesis temperatures and specific growth substrates are typically required to obtain crystalline or oriented inorganic functional thin films, posing a significant challenge for their utilization in large-scale, low-cost (opto-)electronic applications on conventional flexible substrates. Here, we explore a pulse irradiation synthesis (PIS) to prepare thermoelectric metal chalcogenide (e.g., Bi<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub>, SnSe<sub>2</sub>, and Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>) films on multiple polymeric substrates. The self-propagating combustion process enables PIS to achieve a synthesis temperature as low as 150 °C, with an ultrafast reaction completed within one second. Beyond the photothermoelectric (PTE) property, the thermal coupling between polymeric substrates and bismuth selenide films is also examined to enhance the PTE performance, resulting in a responsivity of 71.9 V/W and a response time of less than 50 ms at 1550 nm, surpassing most of its counterparts. This PIS platform offers a promising route for realizing flexible PTE or thermoelectric devices in an energy-, time-, and cost-efficient manner.