New Chemistry Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Jakkur P.O., Bangalore (India) http://www.jncasr.ac.in/kanishka/
Theoretical Science Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Jakkur P.O., Bangalore 560 064 (India).
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2015 Dec 7;54(50):15241-5. doi: 10.1002/anie.201508492. Epub 2015 Oct 28.
Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) are a new quantum state of matter in which linearly dispersed metallic surface states are protected by crystal mirror symmetry. Owing to its vanishingly small bulk band gap, a TCI like Pb0.6 Sn0.4 Te has poor thermoelectric properties. Breaking of crystal symmetry can widen the band gap of TCI. While breaking of mirror symmetry in a TCI has been mostly explored by various physical perturbation techniques, chemical doping, which may also alter the electronic structure of TCI by perturbing the local mirror symmetry, has not yet been explored. Herein, we demonstrate that Na doping in Pb0.6 Sn0.4 Te locally breaks the crystal symmetry and opens up a bulk electronic band gap, which is confirmed by direct electronic absorption spectroscopy and electronic structure calculations. Na doping in Pb0.6 Sn0.4 Te increases p-type carrier concentration and suppresses the bipolar conduction (by widening the band gap), which collectively gives rise to a promising zT of 1 at 856 K for Pb0.58 Sn0.40 Na0.02 Te. Breaking of crystal symmetry by chemical doping widens the bulk band gap in TCI, which uncovers a route to improve TCI for thermoelectric applications.
拓扑晶体绝缘体 (TCIs) 是一种新的物质状态,其中线性分散的金属表面态受到晶体镜像对称的保护。由于其体带隙极小,像 Pb0.6Sn0.4Te 这样的 TCI 具有较差的热电性能。破坏晶体对称可以拓宽 TCI 的能带隙。虽然通过各种物理微扰技术已经探索了 TCI 中镜面对称的破坏,但通过微扰局部镜面对称来改变 TCI 的电子结构的化学掺杂尚未得到探索。在此,我们证明了 Na 在 Pb0.6Sn0.4Te 中的掺杂局部破坏了晶体对称并打开了体带隙,这一点通过直接电子吸收光谱和电子结构计算得到了证实。Na 在 Pb0.6Sn0.4Te 中的掺杂增加了 p 型载流子浓度并抑制了双极传导(通过拓宽带隙),这共同导致 Pb0.58Sn0.40Na0.02Te 在 856 K 时具有有希望的 zT 值为 1。通过化学掺杂破坏晶体对称拓宽了 TCI 的体带隙,这为改善 TCI 在热电应用中的性能开辟了一条途径。