Title: Thermal Evolution of Internal Strain in Doped PbTe

Journal Article · · Chemistry of Materials
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Materials Science and Engineering
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
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Recent improvements in the efficiency of heat-to-electricity energy conversion in lead chalcogenide thermoelectrics involve reducing the thermal conductivity by incorporating large amounts of internal strain. The extent to which typical lead chalcogenide processing techniques (such as doping, ball milling, and densification) increase internal strain and dislocation density must be quantified to improve materials design. In this study, neutron powder diffraction is leveraged to evaluate the internal strain introduced by ball milling in doped and undoped powders. Doping with Na and/or Eu increases internal strain beyond ball milling alone, with the greatest increase from combining the two dopants. Strain recovery occurs in each powder above 400 K but can be suppressed by co-doping, indicating a strong dopant–dislocation interaction in this system. Therefore, high-temperature processing of PbTe powders should be avoided if high internal strain is desired. Low-temperature densification and/or rapid pressing techniques may be key to maintaining internal strain in the final pressed pellet. The diffraction peak asymmetry and correlated elastic softening measured in pressed PbTe pellets in past studies were not observed in the precursor powders measured here, suggesting that measurements of the Debye temperature on final pressed pellets are required to examine the influence of defect-induced elastic softening on thermal conductivity. This work provides key guidance for defect engineering to maximize internal strain and thermoelectric performance in PbTe thermoelectrics.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1807224
Journal Information:
Chemistry of Materials, Journal Name: Chemistry of Materials Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 33; ISSN 0897-4756
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Defects
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