Thermoelectric properties of a series of polycrystalline Mo(Se1-xTex)2

Transition metal dichalcogenides have being actively studied on the account of their large density-of-state effective mass and low lattice thermal conductivity. Herein, thermoelectric and electrical transport properties of MoSe2-MoTe2 system are investigated. A series of Mo(Se1-xTex)(2) (x = 0, .25, .5, .75, and 1) polycrystalline samples was synthesized by conventional solid-state reaction. Single hexagonal phase was identified for each sample without secondary phase, confirming the formation of complete solid solutions between MoSe2 and MoTe2. The electrical conductivity and magnitude of the Seebeck coefficient increased simultaneously with increasing Te content x at high temperatures, with the power factor following the same trend. As results, the MoTe2 sample exhibited the maximum power factor of .014 mW/(m K-2) at 823 K. The lattice thermal conductivities of the alloyed samples (x = .25, .5, and .75) significantly decreased compared to MoSe2 and MoTe2 owing to point defect phonon scattering via anion substitution, which is verified by the Debye-Callaway model. A maximum zT of .0044 was obtained for MoTe2 sample at 773 K; however, the calculated quality factor B values of the samples with x = .75 and 1 at 773 K were almost identical, suggesting that a further enhancement of zT can be achieved by optimizing an n(H) of the Mo(Se0.25Te0.75)(2) sample.