Photocatalytic and thermoelectric properties of Cu^sub 2^MnSnS^sub 4^ nanoparticles synthesized via solvothermal method

Flower-like Cu2MnSnS4 nanoparticles were synthesized by the solvothermal method for the first time. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that pure Cu2MnSnS4 exhibit flower-like structure and the thickness of the petal is about 40 nm. The degradation rate of methylene blue(MB) with under visible-light irradiation is about 85%, indicating a promising candidate for effective visible-light photocatalyst to treating the waste water treatment. The high electrical conductivity(σ) and large Seebeck coefficient(S) were obtained, the values are 33.75 S m-1 and 464.88 µV K-1 at 675 K, respectively. The novel thermoelectric properties of Cu2MnSnS4 might be useful for high-temperature thermoelectric devices using earth abundant materials.