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 0.99 Ln 0.01 S 2 (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 2- oxidation state, the copper-Cu + , and the chromium-Cr 3+ . The cationic substitution of the initial CuCrS 2 -matrix occurred via the isovalent mechanism. The obtained results were compared with the electrophysical properties for CuCr 0.99 Ln 0.01 S 2 . The measured carrier concentration was from 10 17 to 10 18 cm -3 . The largest Seebeck coefficient value of 157 µV/K was measured for CuCr 0.99 Yb 0.01 S 2 at 500 K. The cationic substitution with lanthanides allowed one to enhance the Seebeck coefficient of the initial CuCrS 2 -matrix.