High Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in PbTe Alloys Demonstrated in PbTe-CdTe

被引:250
作者
Pei, Yanzhong [1 ]
LaLonde, Aaron D. [1 ]
Heinz, Nicholas A. [1 ]
Snyder, G. Jeffrey [1 ]
机构
[1] CALTECH, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
关键词
thermoelectrics; PbTe; alloys; bandgaps; figure of merit; LATTICE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY; IV-VI-COMPOUNDS; P-TYPE PBTE; LEAD-TELLURIDE; OPTICAL PROPERTIES; HIGH-TEMPERATURES; PHASE-EQUILIBRIA; BAND-STRUCTURE; VALENCE-BAND; SYSTEM;
D O I
10.1002/aenm.201100770
中图分类号
O64 [物理化学(理论化学)、化学物理学];
学科分类号
070304 ; 081704 ;
摘要
PbTe alloys have been the most efficient materials for thermoelectric power generation since the 1950s. In addition to the observed lattice thermal conductivity reduction by alloy scattering, recent efforts targeting electronic-transport enhancement through band structure engineering have demonstrated a design route to achieve extraordinary thermoelectric performance. Guided by these recent results, the current work discusses the influence of alloying CdTe in p-type PbTe where the solubility is strongly temperature-dependent. Beneficial changes to the band structure and effective scattering of phonons are concurrently inferred when the PbTeCdTe precipitate composite is expected to become a solid solution at high temperature, enhancing the peak thermoelectric figure of merit to similar to 1.7. This work emphasizes the importance of solid solution alloys of PbTe for thermoelectric power-generation applications and also provides an upper limit of about 1 micrometer to the average distance between interfaces above which phonon scattering by composite interfaces is ineffectual.
引用
收藏
页码:670 / 675
页数:6
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