Journal ArticleDOI
Ultralow thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric figure of merit in SnSe crystals
Li-Dong Zhao,Shih Han Lo,Yongsheng Zhang,Hui Sun,Gangjian Tan,Ctirad Uher,Chris Wolverton,Vinayak P. Dravid,Mercouri G. Kanatzidis +8 more
TLDR
An unprecedented ZT of 2.6 ± 0.3 at 923 K is reported in SnSe single crystals measured along the b axis of the room-temperature orthorhombic unit cell, which highlights alternative strategies to nanostructuring for achieving high thermoelectric performance.Abstract:
The thermoelectric effect enables direct and reversible conversion between thermal and electrical energy, and provides a viable route for power generation from waste heat The efficiency of thermoelectric materials is dictated by the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT (where Z is the figure of merit and T is absolute temperature), which governs the Carnot efficiency for heat conversion Enhancements above the generally high threshold value of 25 have important implications for commercial deployment, especially for compounds free of Pb and Te Here we report an unprecedented ZT of 26 ± 03 at 923 K, realized in SnSe single crystals measured along the b axis of the room-temperature orthorhombic unit cell This material also shows a high ZT of 23 ± 03 along the c axis but a significantly reduced ZT of 08 ± 02 along the a axis We attribute the remarkably high ZT along the b axis to the intrinsically ultralow lattice thermal conductivity in SnSe The layered structure of SnSe derives from a distorted rock-salt structure, and features anomalously high Gruneisen parameters, which reflect the anharmonic and anisotropic bonding We attribute the exceptionally low lattice thermal conductivity (023 ± 003 W m(-1) K(-1) at 973 K) in SnSe to the anharmonicity These findings highlight alternative strategies to nanostructuring for achieving high thermoelectric performanceread more
Citations
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Energy‐Saving Pathways for Thermoelectric Nanomaterial Synthesis: Hydrothermal/Solvothermal, Microwave‐Assisted, Solution‐Based, and Powder Processing
TL;DR: In this article , a review of the recent growth in the energy-efficient synthesis of thermoelectric nanomaterials for use in devices for thermal energy harvesting is presented.
Journal ArticleDOI
Powder metallurgically synthesized Cu12Sb4S13 tetrahedrites: phase transition and high thermoelectricity
TL;DR: In this article, a powder metallurgical process combining mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS) was used to synthesize Cu12Sb4S13−x (x = 0, 0.1, 0., 0.3 and 0.4) compounds.
Journal ArticleDOI
Room-Temperature Ferroelectricity in Group-IV Metal Chalcogenide Nanowires.
TL;DR: Further aspects of these 1D ferroelectrics are examined, revealing the domain wall localization, switchable carrier mobility, and practically effective shieling by confining the nanowires inside the carbon nanotubes-all together potentially useful for nanoscale ferroelectric devices of broad interests.
Journal ArticleDOI
Gigantic Phonon-Scattering Cross Section To Enhance Thermoelectric Performance in Bulk Crystals
Junphil Hwang,Junphil Hwang,Hoon Kim,Mi Kyung Han,Jisook Hong,Ji Hoon Shim,Jang-Yeul Tak,Young Soo Lim,Yingshi Jin,Jiyong Kim,Hwanjoo Park,Dong Keon Lee,Je-Hyeong Bahk,Sung Jin Kim,Woochul Kim +14 more
TL;DR: This work proposes an approach based on coated-grain structures to effectively reduce the thermal conductivity to a much greater degree when compared to that done by conventional nanodot nanocomposite in thermoelectric energy conversions.
References
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Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple
TL;DR: A simple derivation of a simple GGA is presented, in which all parameters (other than those in LSD) are fundamental constants, and only general features of the detailed construction underlying the Perdew-Wang 1991 (PW91) GGA are invoked.
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From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method
Georg Kresse,Daniel P. Joubert +1 more
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Special points for brillouin-zone integrations
Hendrik J. Monkhorst,J.D. Pack +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a method for generating sets of special points in the Brillouin zone which provides an efficient means of integrating periodic functions of the wave vector is given, where the integration can be over the entire zone or over specified portions thereof.
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Complex thermoelectric materials.
TL;DR: A new era of complex thermoelectric materials is approaching because of modern synthesis and characterization techniques, particularly for nanoscale materials, and the strategies used to improve the thermopower and reduce the thermal conductivity are reviewed.
Journal ArticleDOI
High-performance bulk thermoelectrics with all-scale hierarchical architectures
Kanishka Biswas,Jiaqing He,Ivan Blum,Ivan Blum,Chun I. Wu,Timothy P. Hogan,Timothy P. Hogan,David N. Seidman,Vinayak P. Dravid,Mercouri G. Kanatzidis,Mercouri G. Kanatzidis +10 more
TL;DR: It is shown that heat-carrying phonons with long mean free paths can be scattered by controlling and fine-tuning the mesoscale architecture of nanostructured thermoelectric materials, and an increase in ZT beyond the threshold of 2 highlights the role of, and need for, multiscale hierarchical architecture in controlling phonon scattering in bulk thermoeLECTrics.