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Better thermoelectrics through glass-like crystals

Nature Materials volume 14, pages 1182–1185 (2015)Cite this article

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A Correction to this article was published on 18 December 2015

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Twenty years ago, the 'phonon-glass, electron-crystal' concept changed thinking in thermoelectric materials research, resulting in new high-performance materials and an increased focus on controlling structure and chemical bonding to minimize irreversible heat transport in crystals.

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Figure 1: Thermal transport in crystals, glasses and glass-like crystals.
Figure 2: Thermoelectric power factor (S2σ) as a function of thermal conductivity (κ) for selected bulk high performance thermoelectric materials at their respective temperatures of maximum ZT.

Change history

  • 26 November 2015

    In the version of the Commentary 'Better thermoelectrics through glass-like crystals' originally published (Nature Mater. 14, 1182–1185; 2015), in Fig. 2 the units on the y axis should have been 'µW cm-1 K-2'. Corrected in the online versions after print 26 November 2015.

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Acknowledgements

D.T.M. acknowledges support from the Center for Revolutionary Materials for Solid State Energy Conversion, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001054. G.S.N. gratefully acknowledges the support of the US Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, under Award Number DE-FG02-04ER46145 for funding research on clathrates, and the II-VI Foundation for funding research on skutterudites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Matt Beekman is in the Department of Natural Sciences, Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, Oregon 97601, USA,

    Matt Beekman

  2. Donald T. Morelli is in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA,

    Donald T. Morelli

  3. George S. Nolas is in the Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA,

    George S. Nolas

Authors
  1. Matt Beekman
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  2. Donald T. Morelli
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  3. George S. Nolas
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Correspondence to Matt Beekman, Donald T. Morelli or George S. Nolas.

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Beekman, M., Morelli, D. & Nolas, G. Better thermoelectrics through glass-like crystals. Nature Mater 14, 1182–1185 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4461

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