Issue 40, 2021

Enhanced thermoelectric performance of InTe through Pb doping

Abstract

Chalcogenide semiconductors continue to be of prime interest for designing novel efficient materials for energy-conversion applications. Among them, the narrow-band-gap p-type semiconductor InTe exhibits high thermoelectric performance that mostly stems from its poor ability to transport heat. Here, we show that its thermoelectric figure of merit can be further enhanced by finely tuning the hole concentration through Pb doping. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy performed on the polycrystalline series In1−xPbxTe confirm that Pb substitutes for In with an estimated solubility limit below 1%. Pb acts as a donor-like impurity, driving the degenerate behavior of pristine InTe towards semiconducting-like properties. The enhanced disorder caused by this substitution increases point-defect scattering of phonons, leading to reduced lattice thermal conductivity. The resulting increase in the power factor and decrease in the phonon transport to values as low as 0.22 W m−1 K−1 above 700 K yields a peak ZT value of 1.05 at 780 K for x = 0.1% along the direction parallel to the pressing direction. According to a single parabolic band model, this sample exhibits a near-optimal thermoelectric performance.

Graphical abstract: Enhanced thermoelectric performance of InTe through Pb doping

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Aug 2021
Accepted
30 Sep 2021
First published
30 Sep 2021

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021,9, 14490-14496

Enhanced thermoelectric performance of InTe through Pb doping

S. Misra, A. Léon, P. Levinský, J. Hejtmánek, B. Lenoir and C. Candolfi, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, 9, 14490 DOI: 10.1039/D1TC04069C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements