Interdisciplinary Materials Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji Univ., 4800 Caoan Road, Shanghai201804, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Feb 1;15(4):6169-6176. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c19820. Epub 2023 Jan 19.
Historically, both p- and n-type PbTe show extraordinary thermoelectric figures of merit within 300-600 °C for power generation applications. A full realization of the potential of these high-performance thermoelectric materials on a device level largely depends on the electrical and thermal contacts with the metal electrodes. Chemical inertness with a slow diffusion could be an important criterion for the selection of metal electrodes. In this work, the diffusion of the total 12 potential metal electrodes in PbTe diffusion couples are focused on and sorted, suggesting the superiority of Co as an electrode for its low diffusion coefficient and interfacial contact resistivity, inertial to PbTe and compatibility in temperature for sintering. The strategy used in this work is believed to be applicable to the selection of electrodes for other thermoelectric materials.
从历史上看，p 型和 n 型 PbTe 在 300-600°C 的温度范围内，其发电应用的热电优值都非常出色。要在器件层面上充分发挥这些高性能热电材料的潜力，在很大程度上取决于与金属电极的电接触和热接触。与金属电极的化学惰性和缓慢扩散可能是选择金属电极的一个重要标准。在这项工作中，重点关注并分类了 PbTe 扩散偶中总共 12 种潜在金属电极的扩散情况，结果表明 Co 作为电极具有低扩散系数和界面接触电阻率的优势，对 PbTe 表现出惰性，并且在烧结温度方面具有兼容性。相信这项工作中使用的策略适用于其他热电材料的电极选择。
