Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties in the Counter-Doped SnTe System with Strained Endotaxial SrTe

J Am Chem Soc. 2016 Feb 24;138(7):2366-73. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5b13276. Epub 2016 Feb 12.

Abstract

We report enhanced thermoelectric performance in SnTe, where significantly improved electrical transport properties and reduced thermal conductivity were achieved simultaneously. The former was obtained from a larger hole Seebeck coefficient through Fermi level tuning by optimizing the carrier concentration with Ga, In, Bi, and Sb dopants, resulting in a power factor of 21 μW cm(-1) K(-2) and ZT of 0.9 at 823 K in Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te. To reduce the lattice thermal conductivity without deteriorating the hole carrier mobility in Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te, SrTe was chosen as the second phase to create strained endotaxial nanostructures as phonon scattering centers. As a result, the lattice thermal conductivity decreases strongly from ∼2.0 Wm(-1) K(-1) for Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te to ∼1.2 Wm(-1) K(-1) as the SrTe content is increased from 0 to 5.0% at room temperature and from ∼1.1 to ∼0.70 Wm(-1) K(-1) at 823 K. For the Sn(0.97)Bi(0.03)Te-3% SrTe sample, this leads to a ZT of 1.2 at 823 K and a high average ZT (for SnTe) of 0.7 in the temperature range of 300-823 K, suggesting that SnTe is a robust candidate for medium-temperature thermoelectric applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.