All-Inorganic Halide Perovskites as Potential Thermoelectric Materials: Dynamic Cation off-Centering Induces Ultralow Thermal Conductivity

Hongyao Xie, Shiqiang Hao, Jinke Bao, Tyler J. Slade, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Christopher Wolverton, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

203 Scopus citations

Abstract

Halide perovskites are anticipated to impact next generation high performance solar cells because of their extraordinary charge transport and optoelectronic properties. However, their thermal transport behavior has received limited attention. In this work, we studied the thermal transport and thermoelectric properties of the CsSnBr3-xIx perovskites. We find a strong correlation between lattice dynamics and an ultralow thermal conductivity for series CsSnBr3-xIx reaching 0.32 Wm-1K-1 at 550 K. The CsSnBr3-xIx also possess a decent Seebeck coefficient and controllable electrical transport properties. The crystallography data and theoretical calculations suggest the Cs atom deviates from its ideal cuboctahedral geometry imposed by the perovskite cage and behaves as a heavy atom rattling oscillator. This off-center tendency of Cs, together with the distortion of SnX6 (X = Br or I) octahedra, produces a highly dynamic and disordered structure in CsSnBr3-xIx, which gives rise to a very low Debye temperature and phonon velocity. Moreover, the low temperature heat capacity data suggests strong coupling between the low frequency optical phonons and heat carrying acoustical phonons. This induces strong phonon resonance scattering that induces the ultralow lattice thermal conductivity of CsSnBr3-xIx.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)9553-9563
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume142
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - May 20 2020

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, and Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0014520. Work at Argonne National Laboratory was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering. This work was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, and Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0014520. Work at Argonne National Laboratory was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Colloid and Surface Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'All-Inorganic Halide Perovskites as Potential Thermoelectric Materials: Dynamic Cation off-Centering Induces Ultralow Thermal Conductivity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this