Synergistic boost of output power density and efficiency in In-Li-codoped SnTe

We report enhanced thermoelectric performance of SnTe by further increasing its intrinsic high carrier concentration caused by Sn vacancies in contrast to the traditional method. Along with In2Te3 alloying, which results in an enhanced See-beck coefficient, Li2Te is added to further increase the carrier concentration in order to maintain high electrical conductivity. Finally, a relatively high PFave of similar to 28 mu W cm(-1) K-2 in the range between 300 and 873 K is obtained in an optimized SnTe-based compound. Furthermore, nanoprecipitates with extremely high density are constructed to scatter phonons strongly, resulting in an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity of similar to 0.45 W m(-1) K-1 at 873 K. Given that the Z value is temperature dependent, the (ZT) eng and (PF) eng values are adopted to accurately predict the performance of this material. Taking into account the Joule and Thomson heat, output power density of similar to 5.53 W cm(-2) and leg efficiency of similar to 9.6% are calculated for (SnTe)(2.94)(In2Te3)(0.02)-(Li2Te)(0.045) with a leg length of 4 mm and cold- and hot-side temperatures of 300 and 870 K, respectively.