Na Doping in PbTe: Solubility, Band Convergence, Phase Boundary Mapping, and Thermoelectric Properties.

Many monumental breakthroughs in -type PbTe thermoelectrics are driven by optimizing a PbNaTe matrix. However, recent works found that > 0.02 in PbNaTe further improves the thermoelectric figure of merit, , despite being above the expected Na solubility limit.

Enhancing the Thermoelectric Properties of Misfit Layered Sulfides (MS) (NbS) (M = Gd and Dy) through Structural Evolution and Compositional Tuning.

The misfit monolayered sulfides, (GdS)NbS, (DyS)NbS, (GdDyS)NbS, (GdDyS)NbS, and (GdDyS)NbS and the misfit bilayered sulfide (GdS)NbS were synthesized via sulfurization under flowing CS/HS gas and consolidated by pressure-assisted sintering. The thermoelectric properties of the monolayered and bilayered sulfides perpendicular (in-plane) and parallel (out-of-plane) to the pressing direction were investigated over a temperature range of 300-873 K. The crystal grains in all the sintered samples were preferentially oriented perpendicular to the pressing direction, which resulted in highly anisotropic electrical and thermal transport properties.

Jood, P. and Ohta, M. Hierarchical Architecturing for Layered Thermoelectric Sulfides and Chalcogenides. 2015, , 1124-1149.

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [1]. [..

Hierarchical Architecturing for Layered Thermoelectric Sulfides and Chalcogenides.

Sulfides are promising candidates for environment-friendly and cost-effective thermoelectric materials. In this article, we review the recent progress in all-length-scale hierarchical architecturing for sulfides and chalcogenides, highlighting the key strategies used to enhance their thermoelectric performance. We primarily focus on TiS₂-based layered sulfides, misfit layered sulfides, homologous chalcogenides, accordion-like layered Sn chalcogenides, and thermoelectric minerals.

Channelled porous TiO2 synthesized with a water-in-oil microemulsion.

Porous titanium dioxide synthesized with a bicontinuous surfactant template is a promising method that leads to a high active surface area electrode. The template used is based on a water/isooctane/dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate salt together with lecithin. Several parameters were varied during the synthesis to understand and optimize channel formation mechanisms.

Al-doped zinc oxide nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric properties.

ZnO is a promising high figure-of-merit (ZT) thermoelectric material for power harvesting from heat due to its high melting point, high electrical conductivity σ, and Seebeck coefficient α, but its practical use is limited by a high lattice thermal conductivity κ(L). Here, we report Al-containing ZnO nanocomposites with up to a factor of 20 lower κ(L) than non-nanostructured ZnO, while retaining bulklike α and σ. We show that enhanced phonon scattering promoted by Al-induced grain refinement and ZnAl(2)O(4) nanoprecipitates presages ultralow κ ∼ 2 Wm( -1) K(-1) at 1000 K.