• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 2022

Thermoelectric materials can reversely convert heat and electricity into each other; therefore, they can be very useful for energy harvesting from heat waste. Among many thermoelectrical materials, SnSe exhibits outstanding thermoelectric performance along the particular direction of a single crystal. However, single-crystal SnSe has poor mechanical properties and thus it is difficult to apply for mass production. Therefore, polycrystalline SnSe materials may be used to replace single-crystal SnSe by overcoming its inferior thermoelectric performance owing to surface oxidation. Considerable efforts are currently focused on enhancing the thermoelectric performance of polycrystalline SnSe. In this study, we briefly review various enhancement methods for SnSe thermoelectric materials, including doping, texturing, and nano-structuring. Finally, we discuss the future prospects of SnSe thermoelectric powder materials.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2021

The SnSe single crystal shows an outstanding figure of merit (ZT) of 2.6 at 973 K; thus, it is considered to be a promising thermoelectric material. However, the mass production of SnSe single crystals is difficult, and their mechanical properties are poor. Alternatively, we can use polycrystalline SnSe powder, which has better mechanical properties. In this study, surface modification by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is chosen to increase the ZT value of SnSe polycrystalline powder. SnSe powder is ground by a ball mill. An ALD coating process using a rotary-type reactor is adopted. ZnO thin films are grown by 100 ALD cycles using diethylzinc and H₂O as precursors at 100℃. ALD is performed at rotation speeds of 30, 40, 50, and 60 rpm to examine the effects of rotation speed on the thin film characteristics. The physical and chemical properties of ALD-coated SnSe powders are characterized by scanning and tunneling electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The results reveal that a smooth oxygen-rich ZnO layer is grown on SnSe at a rotation speed of 30 rpm. This result can be applied for the uniform coating of a ZnO layer on various powder materials.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.256-261
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• 2011

In order to make a $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe) sputtering target sintered for solar cell application, synthesis of CZTSe compound by solid state reaction of Cu, Zn, Sn and Se mixed powders and effects of ball milling condition on sinterability such as ball size, combination of ball size, ball milling time and sintering temperature, was investigated. As a result of this research, sintering at $500^{\circ}C$ after ball milling using mixed balls of 1 mm and 3 mm for 72 hours was the optimum condition to synthesis near stoichiometric composition of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ and to prepare sintered pellet with high density relatively.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.134-137
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• 2009

Commercially available elemental powders of Cu, Zn, Sn and Se were employed for crystallizing a stannite-type $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ compound by means of solid state reaction. $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ reaction chemistry was also modeled based on differential-thermal analysis and X-ray powder diffraction results. It was observed that Se tends to react preferably with Cu to form CuSe and $CuSe_2$ phases at low reaction temperature. The formation of $Cu_5Zn_8$ intermetallic phase was found to be the intermediate reaction path for the binary ZnSe formation. A solid state reaction at $320^{\circ}C$ reacted elemental powderst obinary selenides of CuSe, ZnSe and SnSe completely. The crystallization of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ was was detected to begin at $300^{\circ}C$ and its weight fraction increased with an increase of reaction temperature, which most probably formed from the reaction between $Cu_2SnSe_3$ and ZnSe.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2001

Optical properties of $Ag_2CdSnSe_4$ and $Ag_2CdSnSe_4:Co^{+2}$ quaternary semiconductor single crystals grown by the chemical transport reaction method were investigated. The analysis of the X - ray powder diffraction measurements showed that these crystals have a wurtzite structure with lattice constants a = 4.357 $\AA$, c = 7.380 $\AA$, for $Ag_2CdSnSe_4$ and a = 4.885 $\AA$, c = 7.374 $\AA$, for $Ag_2CdSnSe_4:CO^{2+}$. The direct band gap at 298K, obtained from the optical absorption measurement, is found to be 1.21 eV for $Ag_2CdSnSe_4$ and 1.02 eV for $Ag_2CdSnSe_4:CO^{2+}$. The shrinkage of the band gap due to Co-doping is observed and is about 190 meV, We observed four absorption bands of $Co^{2+}$ ions in two near infrared regions of optical absorption spectra of $Ag_2CdSnSe_4$:$Co^{+2}$. These absorption bands were assigned as due to electronic transitions between the split energy levels of $Co^{2+}$ ions in $T_d$ crystal field under spin-orbit interactions.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.511-516
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• 2022

Electroless plating is widely utilized in engineering for the metallization of insulator substrates, including polymers, glass, and ceramics, without the need for the application of external potential. Homogeneous nucleation of metals requires the presence of Sn-Pd catalysts, which significantly reduce the activation energy of deposition. Therefore, rinsing conducted during Sn sensitization and Pd activation is a key variable for the formation of a uniform seed layer without the lack or excess of catalysts. Herein, we report the optimized rinsing process for the functionalization of Sn-Pd catalysts, which enables the uniform FeCo metallization of the glass fibers. Rinsing enables good deposition of the FeCo alloy because of the removal of excess catalysts from the glass fiber. Concurrently, excessive rinsing results in a complete removal of the Sn-Pd nucleus. Collectively, the comprehensive study of the proposed nanomaterial preparation and surface science show that the metallization of insulators is a promising technology for electronics, solar cells, catalysts, and mechanical parts.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.185-189
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• 2011

$Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ thin films for solar absorber application were prepared by pulsed laser deposition of a synthesized $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ compound target. The film's composition revealed that the deposited films possess an identical composition with the target material. Further film compositional control toward a stoichiometric composition was performed by optimizing substrate temperature, deposition time and target rotational speed. At the optimum condition, X-ray diffraction patterns of films showed that the films demonstrated polycrystalline stannite single phase with a high degree of (112) preferred orientation. The absorption coefficient of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ thin films were above 104 cm.1 with a band gap of 1.45 eV. At an optimum condition, films were identified as a p type semiconductor characteristic with a resistivity as low as $10^{-1}{\Omega}cm$ and a carrier concentration in the order of $10^{17}cm^{-3}$.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.177-181
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• 2014

$Cu_2ZnSn(S_xSe_{1-x})_4$ (CZTSSe) absorber thin films were prepared on Mo coated soda lime glass substrates by sulfo-selenization of sputtered stacked Zn-Sn-Cu precursor thin films. The Zn-Sn-Cu precursor thin films were sulfo-selenized inside a graphite box containing S and Se powder using rapid thermal processing furnace at $540^{\circ}C$ in Ar atmosphere with pre-treatment at $300^{\circ}C$. The effect of different S/Se ratio on the structural, compositional, morphological and electrical properties of the CZTSSe thin films were studied using XRD (X-ray diffraction), XRF (X-ray fluorescence analysis), FE-SEM (field-emission scanning electron microscopy), respectively. The XRD, FE-SEM, XRF results indicated that the properties of sulfo-selenized CZTSSe thin films were strongly related to the S/Se composition ratio. In particular, the CZTS thin film solar cells with S/(S+Se)=0.25 shows best conversion efficiency of 4.6% ($V_{oc}$ : 348 mV, $J_{sc}$ : $26.71mA/cm^2$, FF : 50%, and active area : $0.31cm^2$). Further detailed analysis and discussion for effect of S/Se composition ratio on the properties CZTSSe thin films will be discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.1223-1224
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• 2006

The p-type $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3/(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})$Te functional gradient material (FGM) was fabricated by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3$ and the 0.5 at% $Na_2Te-doped$ $(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})Te$ powders. Also, the n-type $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3/PbTe$ FGM was processed by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3$ and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe powders. With ${\Delta}T$ larger than $300^{\circ}C$, the p-type $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3/(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})Te$ FGM exhibited larger thermoelectric output power than those of the $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3$ and the 0.5 at% $Na_2Te-doped$ $(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})Te$ alloys. For the n-type $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3/PbTe$ FGM, the thermoelectric output power superior to those of the $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3$ and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe was predicted at ${\Delta}T$ larger than $300^{\circ}C$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.130-133
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• 2009

$Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$(CZTSe) is one of the promising materials for the solar cell due to its abundant availability in the nature. In this study, we report the fabrication of CZTSe thin film by Pulsed Laser Deposition(PLD) method using quaternary compound target on sodalime glass substrate. The quaternary CZTSe compound target was synthesized by solid state reaction method using elemental powders of Cu, Zn, Sn and Se. Powders were milled in high purity ethanol using zirconia ball with mixed size of 1 and 3 mm at the same proportions for 72 hours milling time. The structural, chemical and mechanical properties of the synthesized CZTSe powders were investigated prior to the deposition process. The CZTSe compound powder, and $500^{\circ}C$ of sintering temperature shows the best properties for PLD target. Results show that the as-deposited CZTSe thin films with the precursors by PLD have a composition near-stoichiometric.