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Carrier tuning and multiple phonon scattering induced high thermoelectric performance in n-type Sb-doped PbTe alloys

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Abstract

Much progress on highly efficient thermoelectric materials have been made in the p-type PbTe. However, the n-type PbTe only shows a relatively low figure of merit ZT and conversion efficiency η, which is urgently required to be strengthened and compatible with p-type counterpart from the viewpoint of large-scale applications. Here, we report that n-type Sb-doped PbTe alloys can directly improve the power factor owing to the optimized carrier concentration. Moreover, the unexpected synergistic effect, deriving from alloying and nano-precipitates scattering due to Sb doping, triggers a dramatic reduction of lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, a remarkable ZT of ~ 1.3 at 673 K in n-type Pb0.98Sb0.02Te and the average ZTave of ~ 0.83 with the calculated conversion efficiency η of ~ 12.3% in a wide temperature range from 323 to 823 Κ are achieved. The present findings demonstrate the excellent potential in n-type Sb-doped PbTe thermoelectric materials through a synergetic carrier tuning and multiple phonon scattering strategy, which provides a new avenue for exploring high-performance thermoelectric materials in n-type PbTe and/or other materials.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51771126), the Youth Foundation of Science & Technology Department of Sichuan Province in China (2016JQ0051), the Thousand Talents Program of Sichuan Province in China, and the World First-Class University Construction Funding of China. The authors thank Prof. Yanzhong Pei from Tongji University for his support and discussion on Hall measurement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Κey Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Hangtian Liu, Zhiyu Chen, Cong Yin, Bo Liu & Ran Ang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, China

    Binqiang Zhou

  3. Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Ran Ang

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  1. Hangtian Liu
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Liu, H., Chen, Z., Yin, C. et al. Carrier tuning and multiple phonon scattering induced high thermoelectric performance in n-type Sb-doped PbTe alloys. Appl. Phys. A 125, 225 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-019-2525-9

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