The Charge Distribution, Seebeck Coefficient, and Carrier Concentration of CuCr 0.99 Ln 0.01 S 2 (Ln = Dy-Lu)

The atom oxidation states were determined using the binding energies of the core S2p-, Cu2p-, Cr2p-, and Ln3d-levels in CuCr Ln S (Ln = Dy-Lu) solid solutions. The charge distribution on the matrix elements (Cu, Cr, and S) remained unaffected after cationic substitution. The sulfur atoms were found to be in the S oxidation state, the copper-Cu , and the chromium-Cr . The cationic substitution of the initial CuCrS -matrix occurred via the isovalent mechanism. The obtained results were compared with the electrophysical properties for CuCr Ln S . The measured carrier concentration was from 10 to 10 cm . The largest Seebeck coefficient value of 157 µV/K was measured for CuCr Yb S at 500 K. The cationic substitution with lanthanides allowed one to enhance the Seebeck coefficient of the initial CuCrS -matrix.