skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Ultralow Thermal Conductivity and High-Temperature Thermoelectric Performance in n-Type K2.5Bi8.5Se14

Journal Article · · Chemistry of Materials

We studied the narrow band-gap (0.55 eV) semiconductor K2.5Bi8.5Se14 as a potential thermoelectric material for power generation. Samples of polycrystalline K2.5Bi8.5Se14 prepared by spark plasma sintering exhibit exceptionally low lattice thermal conductivities (κlat) of 0.57-0.33 W m-1 K-1 in the temperature range of 300-873 K. The physical origin of such low κlat in K2.5Bi8.5Se14 is related to the strong anharmonicity and low phonon velocity caused by its complex low symmetry, large unit cell crystal structure, and mixed occupancy of Bi and K atoms in the lattice. High-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy studies and microanalysis indicate that the K2.5Bi8.5Se14 sample is a single phase without intergrowth of the structurally related K2Bi8Se13 phase. The undoped material exhibits an n-type character and a figure-of-merit (ZT) value of 0.67 at 873 K. Electronic band structure calculations indicate that K2.5Bi8.5Se14 is an indirect band-gap semiconductor with multiple conduction bands close to the Fermi level. Phonon dispersion calculations suggest that K2.5Bi8.5Se14 has low phonon velocities and large Grüneisen parameters that can account for the observed ultralow κlat. The degree of n-type doping can be controlled by introducing Se deficiencies in the structure, providing a simple route to increase the ZT to ~1 at 873 K.

Research Organization:
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); Keck Foundation
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0014520; AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231; 2018-T2-1-01; MOE2017-T2-2-0690
OSTI ID:
1776869
Journal Information:
Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 31, Issue 15; ISSN 0897-4756
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (65)

Concerted Rattling in CsAg 5 Te 3 Leading to Ultralow Thermal Conductivity and High Thermoelectric Performance journal August 2016
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple journal October 1996
Improvement in the thermoelectric properties of pressure-tuned β-K2Bi8Se13 journal October 2003
High Thermoelectric and Reversible p-n-p Conduction Type Switching Integrated in Dimetal Chalcogenide journal October 2012
Electrical and thermal transport properties of layered Bi2YO4Cu2Se2 journal July 2016
TAGS-related indium compounds and their thermoelectric properties – the solid solution series (GeTe) x AgIn y Sb 1−y Te 2 ( x = 1–12; y = 0.5 and 1) journal January 2014
Large enhancement of thermoelectric performance of CuInTe 2 via a synergistic strategy of point defects and microstructure engineering journal November 2015
Molten salt synthesis and properties of three new solid-state ternary bismuth chalcogenides, .beta.-CsBiS2, .gamma.-CsBiS2, and K2Bi8Se13 journal March 1993
BiCuSeO oxyselenides: new promising thermoelectric materials journal January 2014
Enhanced thermoelectric properties of p-type nanostructured PbTe–MTe (M = Cd, Hg) materials journal January 2013
Measuring thermoelectric transport properties of materials journal January 2015
Crystal Growth, Thermoelectric Properties, and Electronic Structure of AgBi 3 S 5 and AgSb x Bi 3 - x S 5 ( x = 0.3) journal July 2005
A New Thermoelectric Material: CsBi 4 Te 6 journal May 2004
Convergence of multi-valley bands as the electronic origin of high thermoelectric performance in CoSb3 skutterudites journal October 2015
Bonding heterogeneity and lone pair induced anharmonicity resulted in ultralow thermal conductivity and promising thermoelectric properties in n-type AgPbBiSe 3 journal January 2019
n-Type SnSe 2 Oriented-Nanoplate-Based Pellets for High Thermoelectric Performance journal December 2017
Synthesis, Crystallographic Studies, and Characterization of K2Bi8Se13—xSx Solid Solutions journal January 2003
Enhancement of Thermoelectric Efficiency in PbTe by Distortion of the Electronic Density of States journal July 2008
Experimental Studies on Anisotropic Thermoelectric Properties and Structures of n-Type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 journal September 2010
Multiple Converged Conduction Bands in K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 : A Promising Thermoelectric Material with Extremely Low Thermal Conductivity journal December 2016
New Members of the Homologous Series A m [M 6 Se 8 ] m [M 5+ n Se 9+ n ]:  The Quaternary Phases A 1 - x M‘ 3 - x Bi 11+ x Se 20 and A 1+ x M‘ 3 - 2 x Bi 7+ x Se 14 (A = K, Rb, Cs; M‘ = Sn, Pb) journal November 2001
High thermoelectric performance in n-type BiAgSeS due to intrinsically low thermal conductivity journal January 2013
A 2 CuP 3 S 9 (A = K, Rb), Cs 2 Cu 2 P 2 S 6 , and K 3 CuP 2 S 7 : New Phases from the Dissolution of Copper in Molten Polythiophosphate Fluxes journal October 1998
High-performance bulk thermoelectrics with all-scale hierarchical architectures journal September 2012
Grain Boundary Engineering for Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance in n-Type Skutterudites journal February 2017
Soft phonon modes from off-center Ge atoms lead to ultralow thermal conductivity and superior thermoelectric performance in n-type PbSe–GeSe journal January 2018
Tellurium-Free Thermoelectric: The Anisotropic n-Type Semiconductor Bi2S3 journal March 2012
The Role of Zn in Chalcopyrite CuFeS 2 : Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of Cu 1- x Zn x FeS 2 with In Situ Nanoprecipitates journal October 2016
Modular Construction of A 1+ x M 4 - 2 x M‘ 7+ x Se 15 (A = K, Rb; M = Pb, Sn; M‘ = Bi, Sb):  A New Class of Solid State Quaternary Thermoelectric Compounds journal March 2001
High-Performance n-Type PbSe–Cu 2 Se Thermoelectrics through Conduction Band Engineering and Phonon Softening journal October 2018
Ultralow thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric figure of merit in SnSe crystals journal April 2014
Ag9TlTe5: A high-performance thermoelectric bulk material with extremely low thermal conductivity journal August 2005
The Origin of Ultralow Thermal Conductivity in InTe: Lone-Pair-Induced Anharmonic Rattling journal February 2016
Enhancement of Thermoelectric Performance for n-Type PbS through Synergy of Gap State and Fermi Level Pinning journal March 2019
High Thermopower and Low Thermal Conductivity in Semiconducting Ternary K−Bi−Se Compounds. Synthesis and Properties of β-K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 and K 2.5 Bi 8.5 Se 14 and Their Sb Analogues journal December 1997
Enhanced thermoelectric performance of SnTe: High efficient cation - anion Co-doping, hierarchical microstructure and electro-acoustic decoupling journal May 2018
Band gap estimation from temperature dependent Seebeck measurement—Deviations from the 2e|S|maxTmax relation journal January 2015
Lattice thermal conductivity of K2(Bi1−zSbz)8Se13 solid solutions journal April 2004
The Origin of Ultralow Thermal Conductivity in InTe: Lone-Pair-Induced Anharmonic Rattling journal February 2016
Zintl Chemistry for Designing High Efficiency Thermoelectric Materials journal February 2010
CsBi4Te6: A High-Performance Thermoelectric Material for Low-Temperature Applications journal February 2000
Electronic structure of K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 journal February 2005
High Thermoelectric Performance in Electron-Doped AgBi 3 S 5 with Ultralow Thermal Conductivity journal May 2017
Characterization of Lorenz number with Seebeck coefficient measurement journal April 2015
Estimation of the thermal band gap of a semiconductor from seebeck measurements journal July 1999
High Thermoelectric Properties of n-Type AgBiSe 2 journal March 2013
Cubic AgPbmSbTe2+m: Bulk Thermoelectric Materials with High Figure of Merit journal February 2004
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Role of K/Bi disorder in the electronic structure of β -K 2 Bi 8 Se 13 journal September 2009
Intrinsically Minimal Thermal Conductivity in Cubic IVVI2 Semiconductors journal July 2008
3D charge and 2D phonon transports leading to high out-of-plane ZT in n-type SnSe crystals journal May 2018
Strained endotaxial nanostructures with high thermoelectric figure of merit journal January 2011
Part-crystalline part-liquid state and rattling-like thermal damping in materials with chemical-bond hierarchy journal October 2014
Vacancy-induced dislocations within grains for high-performance PbSe thermoelectrics journal January 2017
Weak Electron Phonon Coupling and Deep Level Impurity for High Thermoelectric Performance Pb 1− x Ga x Te journal May 2018
Ba 4 In 8 Sb 16 :  Thermoelectric Properties of a New Layered Zintl Phase with Infinite Zigzag Sb Chains and Pentagonal Tubes journal November 1999
High Performance Thermoelectrics from Earth-Abundant Materials: Enhanced Figure of Merit in PbS by Second Phase Nanostructures journal December 2011
Localized Vibrations of Bi Bilayer Leading to Ultralow Lattice Thermal Conductivity and High Thermoelectric Performance in Weak Topological Insulator n- Type BiSe journal April 2018
High Thermoelectric Performance in Supersaturated Solid Solutions and Nanostructured n-Type PbTe-GeTe journal June 2018
From Bonding Asymmetry to Anharmonic Rattling in Cu 12 Sb 4 S 13 Tetrahedrites: When Lone-Pair Electrons Are Not So Lonely journal May 2015
Copper ion liquid-like thermoelectrics journal March 2012
Lone pair electrons minimize lattice thermal conductivity journal January 2013
Ultrahigh power factor and thermoelectric performance in hole-doped single-crystal SnSe journal November 2015
Cation Disorder and Bond Anharmonicity Optimize the Thermoelectric Properties in Kinetically Stabilized Rocksalt AgBiS 2 Nanocrystals journal July 2013
Grain boundary dominated charge transport in Mg 3 Sb 2 -based compounds journal January 2018

Similar Records

Ultralow Thermal Conductivity and Thermoelectric Properties of Rb2Bi8Se13
Journal Article · Fri Mar 27 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Chemistry of Materials · OSTI ID:1776869

Six Quaternary Chalcogenides of the Pavonite Homologous Series with Ultralow Lattice Thermal Conductivity
Journal Article · Tue Apr 09 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Chemistry of Materials · OSTI ID:1776869

Quaternary Chalcogenide Semiconductors with 2D Structures: Rb2ZnBi2Se5 and Cs6Cd2Bi8Te17
Journal Article · Mon Jul 16 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Inorganic Chemistry · OSTI ID:1776869