title: Photo-induced enhancement of the power factor of Cu2S thermoelectric films.
abstract: Element doping is commonly used to adjust the carrier concentrations in semiconductors such as thermoelectric materials. However, the doping process unavoidably brings in defects or distortions in crystal lattices, which further strongly affects the physical properties of the materials. In this work, high energy photons have been used to activate the carriers in Cu2S thermoelectric films. As a result, the carrier concentrations, and the respective electrical conductivity as well as Seebeck coefficient are further changed. The photon-induced electrical transport properties are further analyzed utilizing a Parallel circuit model. Due to the realization of optimized carrier concentrations by photon activation, the power factor of Cu2S film is improved more than 900 times as compared with the dark data. As compared to the traditional doping process, the approach using photon activation can realize the tuning of carrier concentrations without affecting crystal lattice. This method provides an opportunity to investigate the intrinsic physical properties of semiconductor materials without involving traditional element doping process that usually brings in additional lattice defects or distortions.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.|CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China.|Univerisity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China.|School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of Beijing, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jikun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.
authors.forename: Ren-Kui
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China.
authors.forename: Junqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China.
authors.forename: Tiansong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.
authors.forename: Xiaomin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.|CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.|CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China.
authors.forename: Lidong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen