Zhong Yan, Tang Jing, Liu Hangtian, Chen Zhiwei, Lin Liwei, Ren Ding, Liu Bo, Ang Ran
Key Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
Interdisciplinary Materials Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai 201804, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Nov 4;12(44):49323-49334. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c15730. Epub 2020 Oct 26.
p-Type and n-type thermoelectric semiconductor materials with compatible performance are key components for thermoelectric devices. Great improvement in thermoelectric performance has been achieved in p-type PbTe, whereas the n-type counterpart still shows much inferior thermoelectric performance compared to that of the p-type PbTe. This inspires many strategies focused on advancing n-type PbTe thermoelectrics. Herein, not only effective mass engineering, resonance states, point defects, and nanostructures but also newly developed concepts including dynamic doping for stabilizing the optimal carrier concentration and introducing dislocations for reducing lattice thermal conductivity are summarized. In addition, the synergistic effects for further enhancing the thermoelectric performance are outlined, together with a discussion and outlook for boosting the advancement in n-type PbTe thermoelectric materials. Strategies discussed here are expected to be applicable to other thermoelectric materials.
具有兼容性能的p型和n型热电半导体材料是热电器件的关键组件。p型PbTe的热电性能已取得了很大改进，而n型PbTe的热电性能与p型PbTe相比仍差很多。这激发了许多旨在推进n型PbTe热电材料发展的策略。本文不仅总结了有效质量工程、共振态、点缺陷和纳米结构，还总结了包括用于稳定最佳载流子浓度的动态掺杂以及用于降低晶格热导率的位错引入等新开发的概念。此外，还概述了进一步提高热电性能的协同效应，并对推动n型PbTe热电材料的发展进行了讨论和展望。这里讨论的策略有望应用于其他热电材料。
