IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-25119-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

High thermoelectric performance enabled by convergence of nested conduction bands in Pb7Bi4Se13 with low thermal conductivity

Author

Listed:
  • Lei Hu

    (Nanyang Technological University
    Tokyo Institute of Technology)

  • Yue-Wen Fang

    (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

  • Feiyu Qin

    (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

  • Xun Cao

    (Nanyang Technological University)

  • Xiaoxu Zhao

    (Nanyang Technological University)

  • Yubo Luo

    (Nanyang Technological University)

  • Durga Venkata Maheswar Repaka

    (Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research))

  • Wenbo Luo

    (North China Electric Power University)

  • Ady Suwardi

    (Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research))

  • Thomas Soldi

    (Northwestern University)

  • Umut Aydemir

    (Koc University, Sariyer
    Koc University Boron and Advanced Materials Application and Research Center, Sariyer)

  • Yizhong Huang

    (Nanyang Technological University)

  • Zheng Liu

    (Nanyang Technological University)

  • Kedar Hippalgaonkar

    (Nanyang Technological University
    Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research))

  • G. Jeffrey Snyder

    (Northwestern University)

  • Jianwei Xu

    (Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research))

  • Qingyu Yan

    (Nanyang Technological University)

Abstract

Thermoelectrics enable waste heat recovery, holding promises in relieving energy and environmental crisis. Lillianite materials have been long-term ignored due to low thermoelectric efficiency. Herein we report the discovery of superior thermoelectric performance in Pb7Bi4Se13 based lillianites, with a peak figure of merit, zT of 1.35 at 800 K and a high average zT of 0.92 (450–800 K). A unique quality factor is established to predict and evaluate thermoelectric performances. It considers both band nonparabolicity and band gaps, commonly negligible in conventional quality factors. Such appealing performance is attributed to the convergence of effectively nested conduction bands, providing a high number of valley degeneracy, and a low thermal conductivity, stemming from large lattice anharmonicity, low-frequency localized Einstein modes and the coexistence of high-density moiré fringes and nanoscale defects. This work rekindles the vision that Pb7Bi4Se13 based lillianites are promising candidates for highly efficient thermoelectric energy conversion.

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Hu & Yue-Wen Fang & Feiyu Qin & Xun Cao & Xiaoxu Zhao & Yubo Luo & Durga Venkata Maheswar Repaka & Wenbo Luo & Ady Suwardi & Thomas Soldi & Umut Aydemir & Yizhong Huang & Zheng Liu & Kedar Hippalg, 2021. "High thermoelectric performance enabled by convergence of nested conduction bands in Pb7Bi4Se13 with low thermal conductivity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25119-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25119-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25119-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-25119-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yingcai Zhu & Dongyang Wang & Tao Hong & Lei Hu & Toshiaki Ina & Shaoping Zhan & Bingchao Qin & Haonan Shi & Lizhong Su & Xiang Gao & Li-Dong Zhao, 2022. "Multiple valence bands convergence and strong phonon scattering lead to high thermoelectric performance in p-type PbSe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25119-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.