Synergistic boost of output power density and efficiency in In-Li-codoped SnTe

Fengkai Guo, Haijun Wu, Jianbo Zhu, Honghao Yao, Yang Zhang, Bo Cui, Qian Zhang, Bo Yu, Stephen J. Pennycook, Wei Cai, Ching Wu Chu, Jiehe Sui

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report enhanced thermoelectric performance of SnTe by further increasing its intrinsic high carrier concentration caused by Sn vacancies in contrast to the traditional method. Along with In2Te3 alloying, which results in an enhanced Seebeck coefficient, Li2Te is added to further increase the carrier concentration in order to maintain high electrical conductivity. Finally, a relatively high PFave of ~28 μW cm-1 K-2 in the range between 300 and 873 K is obtained in an optimized SnTe-based compound. Furthermore, nanoprecipitates with extremely high density are constructed to scatter phonons strongly, resulting in an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity of ~0.45 W m-1 K-1 at 873 K. Given that the Z value is temperature dependent, the (ZT)eng and (PF)eng values are adopted to accurately predict the performance of this material. Taking into account the Joule and Thomson heat, output power density of ~5.53 W cm-2 and leg efficiency of ~9.6% are calculated for (SnTe)2.94(In2Te3)0.02-(Li2Te)0.045 with a leg length of 4 mm and cold- and hot-side temperatures of 300 and 870 K, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)21998-22003
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume116
Issue number44
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019 Oct 29

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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