Gibbs Adsorption and Zener Pinning Enable Mechanically Robust High-Performance Bi Te -Based Thermoelectric Devices.

Bi Te -based alloys have great market demand in miniaturized thermoelectric (TE) devices for solid-state refrigeration and power generation. However, their poor mechanical properties increase the fabrication cost and decrease the service durability. Here, this work reports on strengthened mechanical robustness in Bi Te -based alloys due to thermodynamic Gibbs adsorption and kinetic Zener pinning at grain boundaries enabled by MgB decomposition.