Effect of Vacancy Distribution on the Thermal Conductivity of Ga2Te3 and Ga2Se3

Our group has focused attention on Ga2Te3 as a natural nanostructured thermoelectric material. Ga2Te3 has basically a zincblende structure, but one-third of the Ga sites are structural vacancies due to the valence mismatch between Ga and Te. It has been confirmed that (1) vacancies in Ga2Te3 exist as two-dimensional (2D) vacancy planes, and (2) Ga2Te3 exhibits an unexpectedly low thermal conductivity (κ), most likely due to highly effective phonon scattering by the 2D vacancy planes. However, the effect of the size and periodicity of the 2D vacancy planes on κ has been unclear. In addition, it has also been unclear whether only the 2D vacancy planes reduce κ or if point-type vacancies can also reduce κ. In the present study, we tried to prepare Ga2Te3 and Ga2Se3 with various vacancy distributions by controlling annealing conditions. The atomic structures of the samples were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy, and κ was evaluated from the thermal diffusivity measured by the laser flash method. The effects of vacancy distributions on κ of Ga2Te3 and Ga2Se3 are discussed.