2012/10/18 by Xu Lu, Donald T. Morelli, Yi Xia +5 · 4 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · Chemistry · Engineering · #Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Quantum Dots Synthesis And Properties #Thermoelectric effect #Thermoelectric materials #Materials science #Natural mineral #Earth (classical element) #Mineral #Figure of merit #Thermoelectric generator #Electricity #Doping #Rare earth #Natural (archaeology) #Engineering physics #Nanotechnology #Mineralogy #Optoelectronics #Metallurgy #Chemistry #Electrical engineering #Thermodynamics #Physics #Geology #Engineering
paper · doi:10.1002/aenm.201200650
openalex publication_date 2012/10/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat into electricity, potentially improving the efficiency of energy usage in both industry and everyday life. Unfortunately, known good thermoelectric materials often are comprised of elements that are in low abundance and require careful doping and complex synthesis procedures. Here, we report dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit near unity in compounds of the form Cu 12 ‐ x M x Sb 4 S 13 , where M is a transition metal such as Zn or Fe, for wide ranges of x . The compounds investigated here span the range of compositions of the natural mineral family of tetrahedrites, the most widespread sulfosalts on Earth, and we further show that the natural mineral itself can be used directly as an inexpensive source thermoelectric material. Thermoelectrics comprised of earth‐abundant elements will pave the way to many new, low cost thermoelectric energy generation opportunities.