Recent Progress on Quaternary Copper-based Diamondoid Thermoelectric Materials

The rising concern on energy and environmental crises have sparked global interest in developing sustainable new energy and high-efficient energy conversion technologies. Thermoelectric technology has gained attention due to its potential for application in waste heat recovery and solid-state refrigeration. However, the application of traditional thermoelectric materials remains limited due to their expensive and toxic elemental composition. Recently, quaternary copper-based diamondoid materials have garnered significant interest due to their unique transport properties, high element abundance, and low toxicity. Many of these materials have demonstrated promising ZT value, positioning them as potential candidates for efficient thermoelectric applications. This paper summarizes the recent progress in copper-based quaternary diamondoid materials. We present a collection of research focused on optimizing electrical transport properties through carrier concentration tuning and band engineering, along with an overview of reducing thermal conductivity via microstructure enhanced phonon scattering. Finally, we analyze the current research bottlenecks in copper-based quaternary diamondoid thermoelectric materials and propose future research directions.