AI Article Synopsis
- SnTe is a promising material for thermoelectric applications, but its performance is limited by a low Seebeck coefficient and high thermal conductivity due to high hole concentration.
- A novel approach using a core-shell structure of amorphous carbon-coated PbTe nanoparticles in the Sn1-ySbyTe matrix is introduced to improve the thermoelectric properties, resulting in unique microstructures and reduced thermal conductivity.
- This method leads to a peak thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 1.07 at 873 K, significantly improving SnTe’s performance, providing new strategies for enhancing thermoelectric systems.
Article Abstract
SnTe is an emerging IV-VI metal chalcogenide, but its low Seebeck coefficient and high thermal conductivity mainly originating from the high hole concentration limit its thermoelectric performance. In this work, an amorphous carbon core-shell-coated PbTe nanostructure prepared by a "bottom-up" method is first incorporated into the Sn1-ySbyTe matrix to enhance the thermoelectric performance of SnTe. The square-like PbTe nanoparticles maintain their original cubic morphology and do not grow up obviously after the SPS process due to the coating of the C layer, bringing about the formation of nanopores locally, while Sb alloying induces Sb point defects and Sb-rich precipitates. All these unique hierarchical microstructures finally lead to an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (∼0.48 W-1 m-1 K-1) approaching amorphous limits (∼0.40 W-1 m-1 K-1). In addition, the incorporation of PbTe@C core-shell nanostructures decreases the carrier mobility obviously with a slight loss in carrier concentration, resulting in the deterioration of electrical properties to a certain extent. As a result, a peak thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 1.07 is achieved for Sn0.89Sb0.11Te-5%PbTe@C at 873 K, which is approximately 154.76% higher than that of pristine SnTe. This work provides a new strategy to enhance the thermoelectric performance of SnTe and also offers a new insight into other related thermoelectric systems.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d1dt01725j | DOI Listing |
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