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Thermoelectric materials PbTe–PbSe solid solutions (with composition of PbTe 1−x Se x (x = 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5) were synthesized by high pressure method successfully. The power factors of the PbTe 1−x Se x (x = 0, 0.1, 0.25) samples were nearly independent with the composition. The thermal conductivity of PbTe was depressed largely by alloying with Se. An enhanced figure-of-merit ZT ∼0.55 was obtained for x = 0.25 at room temperature. Especially, we found that PbTe 1−x Se x materials exhibited weakly temperature-dependent figure-of-merit values in the range of 300–600 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly dispersed olive-like NiS particles were synthesized in a liquid-liquid biphasic system at room temperature, where nickel xanthate in organic solvents (toluene and benzene) and sodium sulfide in water solution were used as nickel and sulfide sources, respectively. NiS particles were formed at the stabilized phase interface. The structures, chemical composition and optical characteristics of the products were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The organic solvents obviously influenced the morphology of the NiS particles. The olive-like NiS with smooth surface and sharp ends was obtained at benzene/water interface, while spindle-like NiS particles with rough surface and circle ends were formed when using toluene as a solvent. Analogously, chainlike Bi2S3 nanowires were produced at chloroform/water interface. The effect of the experiment parameters including reaction time, solvent and concentration of reactants on the size and morphology of the products was discussed in detail and a possible formation mechanism was suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]