Improvement of Mechanical and Thermoelectric Properties of AgCuTe by Pinning Effect and Enhanced Liquid-Like Behavior via SiC Alloying.

With the development and application of thermoelectric (TE) devices, it requires not only high-performance of TE materials but also high mechanical properties. Here, we report a medium-temperature liquid material, AgCuTe, with high mechanical properties. The results demonstrate that AgCuTe possesses a multiphase structure characterized by abundant grain boundaries, resulting in reduced lattice thermal conductivity and inherently high mechanical strength.

Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance of Mg-Doped AgSbTe by Inhibiting the Formation of AgTe.

The existence of AgTe has always been an obstacle for p-type thermoelectric material AgSbTe to improve its thermoelectric performance. In this work, AgSbMgTe samples are synthesized by melting-slow-cooling and then spark plasma sintering (SPS). Through increasing the solubility of AgTe in the AgSbTe matrix by Mg doping, the formation of AgTe is inhibited.

Enhanced thermoelectric performance of In-doped and AgCuTe-alloyed SnTe through band engineering and endotaxial nanostructures.

Endotaxial nanostructures can reduce lattice thermal conductivity through enhancing phonon scattering without affecting electrical transport, leading to a high thermoelectric performance. On the other hand, band engineering can enhance electrical transport by improving the Seebeck coefficient through valence band convergence and the resonance level. In this paper, the synergistic effect of band engineering and endotaxial nanostructures was implemented in SnTe thermoelectric materials by alloying with AgCuTe and doping with Indium.