Intrinsically low thermal conductivity from a quasi-one-dimensional crystal structure and enhanced electrical conductivity network via Pb doping in SbCrSe3

Yang, Dingfeng; Yao, Wei; Yan, Yanci; Qiu, Wujie; Guo, Lijie; Lu, Xu; Uher, Ctirad; Han, Xiaodong; Wang, Guoyu; Yang, Tao; Zhou, Xiaoyuan

doi:10.1038/am.2017.77

Intrinsically low thermal conductivity from a quasi-one-dimensional crystal structure and enhanced electrical conductivity network via Pb doping in SbCrSe₃

Journal Article · Fri Jun 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · NPG Asia Materials (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/am.2017.77· OSTI ID:1374887

Yang, Dingfeng ^[1]; Yao, Wei ^[2]; Yan, Yanci ^[2]; ^[3]; Guo, Lijie ^[2]; Lu, Xu ^[2]; Uher, Ctirad ^[4]; Han, Xiaodong ^[5]; Wang, Guoyu ^[6]; Yang, Tao ^[7]; Zhou, Xiaoyuan ^[2]

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Congqing Inst. of Green and Intelligent Technology; Chongqing Univ. (China). Colleg of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Beijing Univ. of Technology, Beijing (China). Inst. of Microstructure and Properties of Advanced Materials; Chine Academy of Science
Chongqing Univ. (China). College of Physics
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China). Shanghai Inst. of Ceramics
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Physics
Beijing Univ. of Technology, Beijing (China). Inst. of Microstructure and Properties of Advanced Materials
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Congqing Inst. of Green and Intelligent Technology; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
Chongqing Univ. (China). Colleg of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

The development of new routes for the production of thermoelectric materials with low-cost and high-performance characteristics has been one of the long-term strategies for saving and harvesting thermal energy. We report a new approach for improving thermoelectric properties by employing the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) crystal structure and optimizing the power factor with aliovalent ion doping. As an example, we demonstrated that SbCrSe₃, in which two parallel chains of CrSe₆ octahedra are linked by antimony atoms, possesses a quasi-1D property that resulted in an ultra-low thermal conductivity of 0.56 W m^-1 K^-1 at 900 K. After maximizing the power factor by Pb doping, the peak ZT value of the optimized Pb-doped sample reached 0.46 at 900 K, which is an enhancement of 24 times that of the parent SbCrSe₃ structure. The mechanisms that lead to low thermal conductivity derive from anharmonic phonons with the presence of the lone-pair electrons of Sb atoms and weak bonds between the CrSe₆ double chains. Our results shed new light on the design of new and high-performance thermoelectric materials.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: PI0000012

OSTI ID:: 1374887

Journal Information:: NPG Asia Materials (Online), Journal Name: NPG Asia Materials (Online) Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 9; ISSN 1884-4057

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group AsiaCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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