2025/09/26 by Cheng, Xinxiu, Xu, Liqing, Gao, Zhibin +4
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.21977
Thermoelectric cooling based on the Peltier effect requires high-performance materials near room temperature. In this work, Bi2Te2.6Se0.4 synthesized by melting-hot pressing followed by 100 h annealing (MT-HP-AN) at 723 K exhibits markedly improved performance. Annealing introduces cation vacancies via Te(Se) volatilization, lowering carrier density and enhancing mobility, while simultaneously increasing phonon scattering. A peak ZT of 1.06 at 373 K and an average ZT of 0.99 at 300-423 K are achieved. This MT-HP-AN approach offers a simple yet effective strategy to decouple carrier and phonon transport, advancing the potential of n-type BTS for thermo-electric cooling applications.