High Thermoelectric Performance in Chalcopyrite Cu1-xAgxGaTe2–ZnTe: Nontrivial Band Structure and Dynamic Doping Effect
Abstract
The understanding of thermoelectric properties of ternary I–III–VI2 type (I = Cu, Ag; III = Ga, In; and VI = Te) chalcopyrites is less well developed. Although their thermal transport properties are relatively well studied, the relationship between the electronic band structure and charge transport properties of chalcopyrites has been rarely discussed. In this study, we reveal the unusual electronic band structure and the dynamic doping effect that could underpin the promising thermoelectric properties of Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 compounds. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and electronic transport measurements suggest that the Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 compounds possess an unusual non-parabolic band structure, which is important for obtaining a high Seebeck coefficient. Moreover, a mid-gap impurity level was also observed in Cu1–xAgxGaTe2, which leads to a strong temperature-dependent carrier concentration and is able to regulate the carrier density at the optimized value for a wide temperature region and thus is beneficial to obtaining the high power factor and high average ZT of Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 compounds. We also demonstrate a great improvement in the thermoelectric performance of Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 by introducing Cu vacancies and ZnTe alloying. The Cu vacancies are effective in increasing the hole density and the electrical conductivity, while ZnTe alloying reduces the thermal conductivity. As amore »
- Authors:
-
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1867601
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0014520; ECCS-2025633; DMR-1720139
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 144; Journal Issue: 20; Journal ID: ISSN 0002-7863
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; chalcopyrite; nontrivial band structure; dynamic doping effect; Cu vacancy,; ZnTe alloying
Citation Formats
Xie, Hongyao, Liu, Yukun, Zhang, Yinying, Hao, Shiqiang, Li, Zhi, Cheng, Matthew, Cai, Songting, Snyder, G. Jeffrey, Wolverton, Christopher, Uher, Ctirad, Dravid, Vinayak P., and Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. High Thermoelectric Performance in Chalcopyrite Cu1-xAgxGaTe2–ZnTe: Nontrivial Band Structure and Dynamic Doping Effect. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.1021/jacs.2c02726.
Xie, Hongyao, Liu, Yukun, Zhang, Yinying, Hao, Shiqiang, Li, Zhi, Cheng, Matthew, Cai, Songting, Snyder, G. Jeffrey, Wolverton, Christopher, Uher, Ctirad, Dravid, Vinayak P., & Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. High Thermoelectric Performance in Chalcopyrite Cu1-xAgxGaTe2–ZnTe: Nontrivial Band Structure and Dynamic Doping Effect. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c02726
Xie, Hongyao, Liu, Yukun, Zhang, Yinying, Hao, Shiqiang, Li, Zhi, Cheng, Matthew, Cai, Songting, Snyder, G. Jeffrey, Wolverton, Christopher, Uher, Ctirad, Dravid, Vinayak P., and Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. Tue .
"High Thermoelectric Performance in Chalcopyrite Cu1-xAgxGaTe2–ZnTe: Nontrivial Band Structure and Dynamic Doping Effect". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c02726. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1867601.
@article{osti_1867601,
title = {High Thermoelectric Performance in Chalcopyrite Cu1-xAgxGaTe2–ZnTe: Nontrivial Band Structure and Dynamic Doping Effect},
author = {Xie, Hongyao and Liu, Yukun and Zhang, Yinying and Hao, Shiqiang and Li, Zhi and Cheng, Matthew and Cai, Songting and Snyder, G. Jeffrey and Wolverton, Christopher and Uher, Ctirad and Dravid, Vinayak P. and Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.},
abstractNote = {The understanding of thermoelectric properties of ternary I–III–VI2 type (I = Cu, Ag; III = Ga, In; and VI = Te) chalcopyrites is less well developed. Although their thermal transport properties are relatively well studied, the relationship between the electronic band structure and charge transport properties of chalcopyrites has been rarely discussed. In this study, we reveal the unusual electronic band structure and the dynamic doping effect that could underpin the promising thermoelectric properties of Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 compounds. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and electronic transport measurements suggest that the Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 compounds possess an unusual non-parabolic band structure, which is important for obtaining a high Seebeck coefficient. Moreover, a mid-gap impurity level was also observed in Cu1–xAgxGaTe2, which leads to a strong temperature-dependent carrier concentration and is able to regulate the carrier density at the optimized value for a wide temperature region and thus is beneficial to obtaining the high power factor and high average ZT of Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 compounds. We also demonstrate a great improvement in the thermoelectric performance of Cu1–xAgxGaTe2 by introducing Cu vacancies and ZnTe alloying. The Cu vacancies are effective in increasing the hole density and the electrical conductivity, while ZnTe alloying reduces the thermal conductivity. As a result, a maximum ZT of 1.43 at 850 K and a record-high average ZT of 0.81 for the Cu0.68Ag0.3GaTe2–0.5%ZnTe compound are achieved.},
doi = {10.1021/jacs.2c02726},
journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society},
number = 20,
volume = 144,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 10 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Tue May 10 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}
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