Enhancing the thermoelectric performance of solution-synthesized SnSe-based materials via incorporating Ti3C2T MXene

SnSe-based materials, comprising nontoxic, eco-friendly and abundant elements, have intrinsically low lattice thermal conductivity, which are promising candidates for thermoelectric conversion. However, unmodified, polycrystalline SnSe reveals poor electrical transport properties due to the lower carrier mobility. Herein, two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx MXene has been incorporated into SnSe matrix by solution synthesis and fast consolidation, which efficiently increases the carrier mobility and concentration; accordingly, the electrical conductivity is improved in the temperature range of 323–523 K. Meanwhile, SnSe/Ti3C2Tx composites achieve diminished lattice thermal conductivity, delivering a low value of 0.41 W m−1 K−1 at 773 K. Ultimately, a peak zT of 0.93 at 773 K is attained in SnSe/Ti3C2Tx composite with addition of 0.3 wt% Ti3C2Tx, representing a 66% increase compared to that of SnSe. This work sheds light on the thermoelectric performance improvement of polycrystalline SnSe by controllably incorporating two-dimensional MXene.