In-situ elemental reaction-regulated Ag_(2)S films enable the best thermoelectric performances

Silver sulfide thinfilm,with excellent thermoelectric properties,is few reported due to the complex and time-consuming high-temperature or high-pressure synthesis process.Here,a fast ionic conductor n-type Ag2Sfilm with good crystallinity and uniform density is prepared by sputtering metal Agfilms of different thicknesses on glass and then reacting in S precursor solution at low temperature.At 450 K,β-Ag2Sfilms can be obtained and underwent a phase transition fromα-Ag2S monoclinic,which had a significant effect on their electrical and thermal properties.The grain size of Ag2Sfilms increases with the increase offilm thickness.Before and after the phase transition,the carrier concentration and mobility cause obvious changes in the electrical properties of Ag2S.The carrier concentration of body-centered cubic phaseβ-Ag2S is about three orders of magnitude higher than that of monoclinic phaseα-Ag2S,and the mobility is also 2–3 times that of the latter.Especially,after the phase transition,the conductivity ofβ-Ag2S rises exponentially from the zero conductivity ofα-Ag2S and increases with the increase of temperature.The Ag2Sfilm shows the highestfigure of merit of 0.830.30 at 600 K from the sample with±∼1600 nm thickness,which is the highest record among Ag2S-based thermoelectric materials reported so far.