High thermoelectric figure of merit in heavy hole dominated PbTe

2011/01/01 by Yanzhong Pei, Aaron D. LaLonde, Shiho Iwanaga +1 · 4 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Thermal properties of materials #Thermoelectric effect #Figure of merit #Seebeck coefficient #Doping #Condensed matter physics #Materials science #Thermoelectric materials #Optoelectronics #Physics #Thermodynamics

paper · doi:10.1039/c0ee00456a

openalex publication_date 2011/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Thermoelectric transport properties of p-type PbTe:Na, with high hole concentrations of approximately 1020 cm−3, are reinvestigated from room temperature to 750 K. The greatly enhanced Seebeck coefficient at these doping levels can be understood by the presence of a sharp increase in the density of states around the Fermi level. As a result, the thermoelectric figure of merit, zT, reaches ∼1.4 at 750 K. The influence of these heavy hole carriers may contribute to a similarly high zT observed in related p-type PbTe-based systems such as Tl-doped PbTe and nanostructured composite materials.

Citations

• Impurity clustering and impurity-induced bands in PbTe-, SnTe-, and GeTe-based bulk thermoelectrics
• Enhancement of Thermoelectric Efficiency in PbTe by Distortion of the Electronic Density of States
• Complex thermoelectric materials

Cited by

• Weak electron–phonon coupling contributing to high thermoelectric performance in n-type PbSe
• Convergence of electronic bands for high performance bulk thermoelectrics
• Thermoelectric properties of p-type polycrystalline SnSe doped with Ag
• Thermoelectric materials [wikipedia]