SnTe is deemed as a natural candidate to replace the state-of-the-art thermoelectric material PbTe, due to its low-cost, low-toxicity, and mechanical stability. Nevertheless, both the peak and average figure of merits of SnTe currently are way too inferior as compared to PbTe. In this work, we report that a peak figure of merit as high as ∼1.3 can be achieved at 873 K in p-type SnTe when it is simultaneously doped with Indium and alloyed with AgSbTe2. Moreover, the average figure of merit can be lifted astonishingly from 0.244 up to 0.84, by a factor of 344%, which is the record high value ever reported. The enhanced thermoelectric performance comes from a synergetic improvement of the power factor and reduction of lattice thermal conductivity. The former can be ascribed to the introduction of resonant states by Indium and probable regulation of the valence band structure by AgSbTe2 alloying, while the latter is believed to originate from the vast substitutional point defects at the Sn site by Ag and Sb substitution.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
5 February 2018
Research Article|
February 06 2018
Excellent thermoelectric performance achieved over broad temperature plateau in indium-doped SnTe-AgSbTe2 alloys
Mingkai He
;
Mingkai He
a)
1
Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology
, Shenzhen 518055, China
Search for other works by this author on:
Dan Feng;
Dan Feng
a)
1
Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology
, Shenzhen 518055, China
Search for other works by this author on:
Di Wu;
Di Wu
b)
1
Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology
, Shenzhen 518055, China
2
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University
, Xi'an 710119, China
Search for other works by this author on:
Yingdong Guan
;
Yingdong Guan
1
Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology
, Shenzhen 518055, China
Search for other works by this author on:
Jiaqing He
Jiaqing He
b)
1
Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology
, Shenzhen 518055, China
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
M. He and D. Feng contributed equally to this work.
b)
Electronic addresses: [email protected] and [email protected].
Appl. Phys. Lett. 112, 063902 (2018)
Article history
Received:
December 07 2017
Accepted:
January 25 2018
Citation
Mingkai He, Dan Feng, Di Wu, Yingdong Guan, Jiaqing He; Excellent thermoelectric performance achieved over broad temperature plateau in indium-doped SnTe-AgSbTe2 alloys. Appl. Phys. Lett. 5 February 2018; 112 (6): 063902. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5018477
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
Roadmap on photonic metasurfaces
Sebastian A. Schulz, Rupert. F. Oulton, et al.
Superconducting flip-chip devices using indium microspheres on Au-passivated Nb or NbN as under-bump metallization layer
Achintya Paradkar, Paul Nicaise, et al.
Sputter epitaxy of ScAlN films on GaN high electron mobility transistor structures
Tomoya Okuda, Shunsuke Ota, et al.
Related Content
Low lattice thermal conductivity by alloying SnTe with AgSbTe2 and CaTe/MnTe
Appl. Phys. Lett. (August 2019)
Thermoelectric properties of AgSbTe2 from first-principles calculations
J. Appl. Phys. (September 2014)
On the thermal conductivity of AgSbTe2 and Ag0.82Sb1.18Te2.18
Low Temp. Phys. (November 2018)
Strong anharmonicity induced low lattice thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric performance in (CuInTe2)1−x(AgSbTe2)x system
Appl. Phys. Lett. (July 2022)
Enhanced thermoelectric performance in Bi-doped p-type AgSbTe2 compounds
J. Appl. Phys. (October 2013)