Contrasting role of antimony and bismuth dopants on the thermoelectric performance of lead selenide

Yeseul Lee; Shih Han Lo; Changqiang Chen; Hui Sun; Duck Young Chung; Thomas C. Chasapis; Ctirad Uher; Vinayak P. Dravid; Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

doi:10.1038/ncomms4640

Contrasting role of antimony and bismuth dopants on the thermoelectric performance of lead selenide

Yeseul Lee, Shih Han Lo, Changqiang Chen, Hui Sun, Duck Young Chung, Thomas C. Chasapis, Ctirad Uher, Vinayak P. Dravid^*, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Increasing the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials is a key scientific driver behind a worldwide effort to enable heat to electricity power generation at competitive cost. Here we report an increased performance for antimony-doped lead selenide with a thermoelectric figure of merit of ~1.5 at 800 K. This is in sharp contrast to bismuth doped lead selenide, which reaches a figure of merit of <1. Substituting antimony or bismuth for lead achieves maximum power factors between ~23-27 μW cm^-1 K^-2 at temperatures above 400 K. The addition of small amounts (~0.25 mol%) of antimony generates extensive nanoscale precipitates, whereas comparable amounts of bismuth results in very few or no precipitates. The antimony-rich precipitates are endotaxial in lead selenide, and appear remarkably effective in reducing the lattice thermal conductivity. The corresponding bismuth-containing samples exhibit smaller reduction in lattice thermal conductivity.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	3640
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4640
State	Published - May 2 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
Physics and Astronomy(all)

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title = "Contrasting role of antimony and bismuth dopants on the thermoelectric performance of lead selenide",

abstract = "Increasing the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials is a key scientific driver behind a worldwide effort to enable heat to electricity power generation at competitive cost. Here we report an increased performance for antimony-doped lead selenide with a thermoelectric figure of merit of ~1.5 at 800 K. This is in sharp contrast to bismuth doped lead selenide, which reaches a figure of merit of <1. Substituting antimony or bismuth for lead achieves maximum power factors between ~23-27 μW cm-1 K-2 at temperatures above 400 K. The addition of small amounts (~0.25 mol%) of antimony generates extensive nanoscale precipitates, whereas comparable amounts of bismuth results in very few or no precipitates. The antimony-rich precipitates are endotaxial in lead selenide, and appear remarkably effective in reducing the lattice thermal conductivity. The corresponding bismuth-containing samples exhibit smaller reduction in lattice thermal conductivity.",

author = "Yeseul Lee and Lo, {Shih Han} and Changqiang Chen and Hui Sun and Chung, {Duck Young} and Chasapis, {Thomas C.} and Ctirad Uher and Dravid, {Vinayak P.} and Kanatzidis, {Mercouri G.}",

note = "Funding Information: This material is based upon work supported as part of the Revolutionary Materials for Solid State Energy Conversion, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Award No. ED-SC 0001054. This work was also supported by the U.S Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. TEM work was performed in the EPIC/NIFTI/Keck-II facility of the NUANCE Center at Northwestern University. The NUANCE Center is supported by NSF-NSEC, NSF-MRSEC, Keck Foundation, the State of Illinois, and Northwestern University.",

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AU - Uher, Ctirad

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AU - Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.

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N2 - Increasing the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials is a key scientific driver behind a worldwide effort to enable heat to electricity power generation at competitive cost. Here we report an increased performance for antimony-doped lead selenide with a thermoelectric figure of merit of ~1.5 at 800 K. This is in sharp contrast to bismuth doped lead selenide, which reaches a figure of merit of <1. Substituting antimony or bismuth for lead achieves maximum power factors between ~23-27 μW cm-1 K-2 at temperatures above 400 K. The addition of small amounts (~0.25 mol%) of antimony generates extensive nanoscale precipitates, whereas comparable amounts of bismuth results in very few or no precipitates. The antimony-rich precipitates are endotaxial in lead selenide, and appear remarkably effective in reducing the lattice thermal conductivity. The corresponding bismuth-containing samples exhibit smaller reduction in lattice thermal conductivity.

AB - Increasing the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials is a key scientific driver behind a worldwide effort to enable heat to electricity power generation at competitive cost. Here we report an increased performance for antimony-doped lead selenide with a thermoelectric figure of merit of ~1.5 at 800 K. This is in sharp contrast to bismuth doped lead selenide, which reaches a figure of merit of <1. Substituting antimony or bismuth for lead achieves maximum power factors between ~23-27 μW cm-1 K-2 at temperatures above 400 K. The addition of small amounts (~0.25 mol%) of antimony generates extensive nanoscale precipitates, whereas comparable amounts of bismuth results in very few or no precipitates. The antimony-rich precipitates are endotaxial in lead selenide, and appear remarkably effective in reducing the lattice thermal conductivity. The corresponding bismuth-containing samples exhibit smaller reduction in lattice thermal conductivity.

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Contrasting role of antimony and bismuth dopants on the thermoelectric performance of lead selenide

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