Realizing high thermoelectric performance in non-nanostructured n-type PbTe

Abstract

Nanostructure engineering has improved the performance of thermoelectric materials, but the deteriorated stability of the materials at high temperatures shortens the service life of thermoelectric modules. Here, we realized a...

Electronic Structure-, Phonon Spectrum-, and Effective Mass- Related Thermoelectric Properties of PdXSn (X = Zr, Hf) Half Heuslers

“…Several techniques, such as electron-hole doping [ 3 , 4 ], strain engineering, forming a layered structures, effect of resonant levels [ 5 ], etc., have been used to enhance the value of ZT. The various efficient bulk thermoelectrics include Heusler materials [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], phonon glass and electron crystals (PGEC) [ 10 , 11 ], pentatellurides [ 12 ], clathrates [ 13 ], chalcogenides [ 14 ], skutterudite [ 15 ], oxides [ 16 ], and tin selenide [ 17 ], etc., which have low thermal conductivity and high electrical properties.…”

Synergistically Optimized Carrier and Phonon Transport Properties in Bi–Cu2S Coalloyed GeTe

“…52,53 Additionally, the electronegativity of S is much larger than that of Te, leading to the higher bond energy of Ge−S to limit the formation of the Ge vacancy. 15 For the carrier mobility, μ H is obviously improved because the carrier scattering is severely reduced by the decreased n H and the similarity between the Cu−Te bond and the Ge−Te bond after substitution.…”

“…From Table , n H and μ H decreased and increased with the Cu 2 S addition, respectively. The Cu 2 S addition generates substitution–interstitial defect pairs to improve the Ge vacancy formation energy in the GeTe-based materials, and the interstitial Cu + has a donor effect to decrease the hole concentration. , Additionally, the electronegativity of S is much larger than that of Te, leading to the higher bond energy of Ge–S to limit the formation of the Ge vacancy . For the carrier mobility, μ H is obviously improved because the carrier scattering is severely reduced by the decreased n H and the similarity between the Cu–Te bond and the Ge–Te bond after substitution.…”

“…9−14 As the most representative IV−VI TE semiconductor, PbTe is the only material available for the power generation application in the 600−900 K range because of its recordhigh peak ZT value reaching 2.6. 15 Nevertheless, the toxicity of PbTe restricts its potential applications in daily life, and it is unavoidable to explore new TE materials as promising alternatives to PbTe. The GeTe compound had been overlooked for ages because of its extremely low TE performance caused by the high carrier density, 16 in spite of the similar or even better electronic band structure compared with PbTe.…”

“…As the most representative IV–VI TE semiconductor, PbTe is the only material available for the power generation application in the 600–900 K range because of its record-high peak ZT value reaching 2.6 . Nevertheless, the toxicity of PbTe restricts its potential applications in daily life, and it is unavoidable to explore new TE materials as promising alternatives to PbTe.…”