Sintering temperature dependence of thermoelectric performance in CuCrSe2 prepared via mechanical alloying

CuCrSe2 compounds were synthesized by mechanical alloying followed by annealing and spark plasma sintering at temperatures of 873 K, 923 K, 973 K and 1023 K. Our investigation revealed that high SPS temperature (above 973 K) is the key to obtaining CuCrSe2 single phase completely free of a metallic secondary phase CuCr2Se4. The ultralow thermal conductivity caused by the Cu ions disorder, complex layered structure and dislocation leads to the favorable thermoelectric performance in CuCrSe2 compound. A maximum ZT value over 0.75@873 K is achieved in the absolutely pure sample sintered at 1023 K. (C) 2016 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.