High Thermoelectric zT in n-Type Silver Selenide films at Room Temperature

In this work, a zT value as high as 1.2 at room temperature for n-type Ag2Se films is reported grown by pulsed hybrid reactive magnetron sputtering (PHRMS). PHRMS is a novel technique developed in the lab that allows to grow film of selenides with different compositions in a few minutes with great quality. The improved zT value reported for room temperature results from the combination of the high power factors, similar to the best values reported for bulk Ag2Se (2440 +/- 192 mu W m(-1) K-2), along with a reduced thermoelectric conductivity as low as 0.64 +/- 0.1 W m(-1) K-1. The maximum power factor for these films is of 4655 +/- 407 mu W m(-1) K-2 at 103 degrees C. This material shows promise to work for room temperature applications. Obtaining high zT or, in other words, high power factor and low thermal conductivity values close to room temperature for thin films is of high importance to develop a new generation of wearable devices based on thermoelectric heat recovery.