Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2
Abstract AgSbTe2 is a promising p-type thermoelectric material operating in the mid-temperature regime. To further enhance its thermoelectric performance, previous research has mainly focused on reducing lattice thermal conductivity by forming ordered nanoscale domains for instance. However, the rel...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55280-0 |
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| author | Yu Zhang Congcong Xing Dongyang Wang Aziz Genç Seng Huat Lee Cheng Chang Zhi Li Luyao Zheng Khak Ho Lim Hangtian Zhu Rabeya Bosry Smriti Yu Liu Shaobo Cheng Min Hong Xiaolei Fan Zhiqiang Mao Li-Dong Zhao Andreu Cabot Tiejun Zhu Bed Poudel |
| author_facet | Yu Zhang Congcong Xing Dongyang Wang Aziz Genç Seng Huat Lee Cheng Chang Zhi Li Luyao Zheng Khak Ho Lim Hangtian Zhu Rabeya Bosry Smriti Yu Liu Shaobo Cheng Min Hong Xiaolei Fan Zhiqiang Mao Li-Dong Zhao Andreu Cabot Tiejun Zhu Bed Poudel |
| author_sort | Yu Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract AgSbTe2 is a promising p-type thermoelectric material operating in the mid-temperature regime. To further enhance its thermoelectric performance, previous research has mainly focused on reducing lattice thermal conductivity by forming ordered nanoscale domains for instance. However, the relatively low power factor is the main limitation affecting the power density of AgSbTe2-based thermoelectric devices. In this work, we demonstrate that hole-doped AgSbTe2 with Sn induces the formation of a new impurity band just above the valence band maximum. This approach significantly improves the electrical transport properties, contrary to previous strategies that focused on reducing lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, we achieve a record-high power factor of 27 μWcm−1K−2 and a peak thermoelectric figure of merit zT of 2.5 at 673 K. This exceptional performance is attributed to an increased hole concentration resulting from the formation of the impurity band and a lower formation energy of the defect complexes ( $${V}_{{Ag}}^{1-}$$ V A g 1 − + $${{Sn}}_{{Sb}}^{1-}$$ S n S b 1 − ). Besides, the doped materials exhibit a significantly improved Seebeck coefficient by inhibiting bipolar conductivity and preventing the formation of n-type Ag2Te. Additionally, the optimized AgSbTe2 is used to fabricate a unicouple thermoelectric device that achieves energy conversion efficiencies of up to 12.1% and a high power density of 1.13 Wcm−2. This study provides critical insights and guidance for optimizing the performance of p-type AgSbTe2 in thermoelectric applications. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-09b09bd72321433e90ed0f105aae9190 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-09b09bd72321433e90ed0f105aae91902025-01-05T12:38:37ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111210.1038/s41467-024-55280-0Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2Yu Zhang0Congcong Xing1Dongyang Wang2Aziz Genç3Seng Huat Lee4Cheng Chang5Zhi Li6Luyao Zheng7Khak Ho Lim8Hangtian Zhu9Rabeya Bosry Smriti10Yu Liu11Shaobo Cheng12Min Hong13Xiaolei Fan14Zhiqiang Mao15Li-Dong Zhao16Andreu Cabot17Tiejun Zhu18Bed Poudel19Institute of Wenzhou, Zhejiang UniversityInstitute of Wenzhou, Zhejiang UniversityHenan Key Laboratory of Diamond Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Key Laboratory of Material Physics, Ministry of Education, School of Physics, Zhengzhou UniversityCardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University2D Crystal Consortium, Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State UniversitySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang UniversityDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern UniversityDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State UniversityInstitute of Zhejiang University-QuzhouDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State UniversityDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State UniversityAnhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Reaction Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of TechnologyHenan Key Laboratory of Diamond Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Key Laboratory of Material Physics, Ministry of Education, School of Physics, Zhengzhou UniversityCentre for Future Materials, and School of Engineering, University of Southern QueenslandInstitute of Wenzhou, Zhejiang UniversityDepartment of Physics, The Pennsylvania State UniversitySchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang UniversityCatalonia Institute for Energy Research-IREC, Sant Adrià de BesòsInstitute of Wenzhou, Zhejiang UniversityDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State UniversityAbstract AgSbTe2 is a promising p-type thermoelectric material operating in the mid-temperature regime. To further enhance its thermoelectric performance, previous research has mainly focused on reducing lattice thermal conductivity by forming ordered nanoscale domains for instance. However, the relatively low power factor is the main limitation affecting the power density of AgSbTe2-based thermoelectric devices. In this work, we demonstrate that hole-doped AgSbTe2 with Sn induces the formation of a new impurity band just above the valence band maximum. This approach significantly improves the electrical transport properties, contrary to previous strategies that focused on reducing lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, we achieve a record-high power factor of 27 μWcm−1K−2 and a peak thermoelectric figure of merit zT of 2.5 at 673 K. This exceptional performance is attributed to an increased hole concentration resulting from the formation of the impurity band and a lower formation energy of the defect complexes ( $${V}_{{Ag}}^{1-}$$ V A g 1 − + $${{Sn}}_{{Sb}}^{1-}$$ S n S b 1 − ). Besides, the doped materials exhibit a significantly improved Seebeck coefficient by inhibiting bipolar conductivity and preventing the formation of n-type Ag2Te. Additionally, the optimized AgSbTe2 is used to fabricate a unicouple thermoelectric device that achieves energy conversion efficiencies of up to 12.1% and a high power density of 1.13 Wcm−2. This study provides critical insights and guidance for optimizing the performance of p-type AgSbTe2 in thermoelectric applications.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55280-0 |
| spellingShingle | Yu Zhang Congcong Xing Dongyang Wang Aziz Genç Seng Huat Lee Cheng Chang Zhi Li Luyao Zheng Khak Ho Lim Hangtian Zhu Rabeya Bosry Smriti Yu Liu Shaobo Cheng Min Hong Xiaolei Fan Zhiqiang Mao Li-Dong Zhao Andreu Cabot Tiejun Zhu Bed Poudel Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2 Nature Communications |
| title | Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2 |
| title_full | Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2 |
| title_fullStr | Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2 |
| title_short | Realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered AgSbTe2 |
| title_sort | realizing high power factor and thermoelectric performance in band engineered agsbte2 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55280-0 |
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