Loading…

Promoting SnTe as an Eco‐Friendly Solution for p‐PbTe Thermoelectric via Band Convergence and Interstitial Defects

Compared to commercially available p‐type PbTe thermoelectrics, SnTe has a much bigger band offset between its two valence bands and a much higher lattice thermal conductivity, both of which limit its peak thermoelectric figure of merit, zT of only 0.4. Converging its valence bands or introducing re...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2017-05, Vol.29 (17), p.n/a
Main Authors: Li, Wen, Zheng, Linglang, Ge, Binghui, Lin, Siqi, Zhang, Xinyue, Chen, Zhiwei, Chang, Yunjie, Pei, Yanzhong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Compared to commercially available p‐type PbTe thermoelectrics, SnTe has a much bigger band offset between its two valence bands and a much higher lattice thermal conductivity, both of which limit its peak thermoelectric figure of merit, zT of only 0.4. Converging its valence bands or introducing resonant states is found to enhance the electronic properties, while nanostructuring or more recently introducing interstitial defects is found to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity. Even with an integration of some of the strategies above, existing efforts do not enable a peak zT exceeding 1.4 and usually involve Cd or Hg. In this work, a combination of band convergence and interstitial defects, each of which enables a ≈150% increase in the peak zT, successfully accumulates the zT enhancements to be ≈300% (zT up to 1.6) without involving any toxic elements. This opens new possibilities for further improvements and promotes SnTe as an environment‐friendly solution for conventional p‐PbTe thermoelectrics. A combination of band convergence by alloying with MnTe and interstitial defect scattering by alloying with Cu2Te, each of which enables an ≈150% increase in the peak thermoelectric figure of merit, zT of SnTe, successfully accumulates the zT enhancements to be ≈300% without involving any toxic elements. This promotes SnTe as an eco‐friendly solution for p‐PbTe thermoelectrics.
ISSN:0935-9648
1521-4095
DOI:10.1002/adma.201605887