Silvia Ortega

TL;DR: A simple and versatile bottom–up strategy based on the assembly of colloidal nanocrystals to produce consolidated yet nanostructured thermoelectric materials that exhibit reduced thermal conductivities and higher charge carrier concentrations and mobilities than PbS nanomaterial is presented.

TL;DR: The state-of-the-art of this technology applied to the thermoelectric field is reviewed, including the synthesis of nanoparticles of suitable materials with precisely engineered composition and surface chemistry, their combination and consolidation into nanostructured materials, the strategies to electronically dope such materials and the attempts to fabricate thermoeLECTric devices using nanoparticle-based nanopowders and inks.

TL;DR: High ZT values prove the potential of the proposed processes to produce efficient functional nanomaterials with programmable properties, using PbTe-PbS as the model material system and thermoelectricity as the paradigmatic application.

TL;DR: This strategy to be effective to control charge transport properties on thermoelectric nanomaterials assembled from NP building blocks and is subsequently extended to PbTe(x)Se(1-x)@PbS core-shell NPs, where a significant enhancement of the thermoeLECTric figure of merit is achieved.

TL;DR: Crystallographic texture was achieved by hot pressing the asymmetric NCs in the presence of an excess of tellurium, and highest ZT values were obtained in the pressing direction, corresponding to the c crystallographic axis, due to the predominance of the thermal conductivity reduction over the electrical conductivity difference when comparing the two crystal directions.