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Journal of Advanced Ceramics

Authors

Wenjing XU, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Zhongwei ZHANG, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Chengyan LIU, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Jie GAO, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Zhenyuan YE, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Chunguang CHEN, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Ying PENG, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Xiaobo BAI, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Lei MIAO, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Material, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Structure and Property for New Energy and Materials, School of Material Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, SIT Research Laboratories, Innovative Global Program, Faculty of Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo 135-8548, Japan

Keywords

SnTe, band convergence, dislocation, Ag and La co-doping, thermoelectric performance

Abstract

Eco-friendly SnTe based thermoelectric materials are intensively studied recently as candidates to replace PbTe; yet the thermoelectric performance of SnTe is suppressed by its intrinsically high carrier concentration and high thermal conductivity. In this work, we confirm that the Ag and La co-doping can be applied to simultaneously enhance the power factor and reduce the thermal conductivity, contributing to a final promotion of figure of merit. On one hand, the carrier concentration and band offset between valence bands are concurrently reduced, promoting the power factor to a highest value of ~2436 μW·m-1·K-2 at 873 K. On the other hand, lots of dislocations (~3.16×107 mm-2) associated with impurity precipitates are generated, resulting in the decline of thermal conductivity to a minimum value of 1.87 W·m-1·K-1 at 873 K. As a result, a substantial thermoelectric performance enhancement up to zT ≈ 1.0 at 873 K is obtained for the sample Sn0.94Ag0.09La0.05Te, which is twice that of the pristine SnTe (zT ≈ 0.49 at 873 K). This strategy of synergistic manipulation of electronic band and microstructures via introducing rare earth elements could be applied to other systems to improve thermoelectric performance.

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