Synergistic Performance of Thermoelectric and Mechanical in Nanotwinned High-Entropy Semiconductors AgMnGePbSbTe.

Introducing nanotwins in thermoelectric materials represents a promising approach to achieving such a synergistic combination of thermoelectric properties and mechanical properties. By increasing configurational entropy, a sharply reduced stacking fault energy in a new nanotwinned high-entropy semiconductor AgMnGePbSbTe is reached. Dense coherent nanotwin boundaries in this system provide an efficient phonon scattering barrier, leading to a high figure of merit ZT of ≈2.

Enhancing Thermoelectric and Cooling Performance of BiSbTe through Ferroelectric Polarization in Flexible Ag/PZT/PVDF/BiSbTe Film.

BiTe-based thin films are gaining recognition for their remarkable room temperature thermoelectric performance. Beyond the conventional "process-composition-performance" paradigm, it is highly desirable to explore new methods to enhance their performance further. Here, we designed a sandwich-structured Ag/PZT/PVDF/BiSbTe(BST) thin film device and effectively regulated the performance of the BST film by controlling the polarization state of the PZT/PVDF layers.

Significant Enhancement of Thermoelectric Performance in Bi Sb Te Thin Film via Ferroelectric Polarization Engineering.

The Bi Sb Te (BST) thin film shows great promise in harvesting low-grade heat energy due to its excellent thermoelectric performance at room temperature. In order to further enhance its thermoelectric performance, specifically the power factor and output power, new approaches are highly desirable beyond the common "composition-structure-performance" paradigm. This study introduces ferroelectric polarization engineering as a novel strategy to achieve these goals.

Toward Ultrahigh Thermoelectric Performance of Cu SnS -Based Materials by Analog Alloying.

Cu SnS is a promising thermoelectric candidate for power generation at medium temperature due to its low-cost and environmental-benign features. However, the high electrical resistivity due to low hole concentration severely restricts its final thermoelectric performance. Here, analog alloying with CuInSe is first adopted to optimize the electrical resistivity by promoting the formation of Sn vacancies and the precipitation of In, and optimize lattice thermal conductivity through the formation of stacking faults and nanotwins.

High Thermoelectric Performance SnTe with a Segregated and Percolated Structure.

A nanostructure has a significant role in enhancing the power factor and preventing the heat propagation for thermoelectric materials. Herein, we propose a unique segregated and percolated (SP) microphase-separated structure to enhance the thermoelectric performance of SnTe. The SP structure is composed of insoluble SnTe and AgCuTe, in which AgCuTe with ultralow lattice thermal conductivity undergoes a solid-phase welding during a spark plasma sintering process and forms continuous percolated layers at the interface of isolated SnTe.