Semiconducting glasses: A new class of thermoelectric materials?

The deeper understanding of the factors that affect the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT, and the use of new synthetic methods has recently led to the development of novel systems with improved thermoelectric performances. Albeit up to now with ZT values lower than the conventional bulk materials, semiconducting glasses have also emerged as a new family of potential thermoelectric materials. This paper reviews the latest advances on semiconducting glasses for thermoelectric applications. Key examples of tellurium-based glasses, with high Seebeck coefficients, very low thermal conductivities and tunable electrical conductivities, are presented. ZT values as high as 0.2 were obtained at room temperature for several tellurium-based glasses with high copper concentrations, confirming chalcogenide semiconducting glasses as good candidates for high-performance thermoelectric materials. However, the temperature stability and electrical conductivity of the reported glasses are still not good enough for practical applications and further studies are still needed to enhance them. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.