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Thermoelectric transport properties of Pb–Sn–Te–Se system

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Abstract

IV–VI compounds are considered as promising thermoelectric materials, and high thermoelectric performance was achieved in IV–VI solid solutions. In this work, the thermoelectric properties of Pb–Sn–Te–Se-based solid solutions were systematically investigated. Among these solid solutions, it is found that a figure of merit (ZT) peak value of 1.0 at 873 K can be obtained in (PbTe)0.5(SnTe)0.5, on account of the combination of superior electrical properties in SnTe and low thermal conductivity in PbTe. Furthermore, we investigated and summarized the thermoelectric transport properties and proposed the thermoelectric performance maps for the IV–VI solid solutions in Pb–Sn–Te–Se system. This comprehensive investigation on Pb–Sn–Te–Se-based solid solutions can effectively guide and scan thermoelectric performance for a given unknown composition and enhance the thermoelectric properties in IV–VI compounds.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51671015, 51571007 and 51772012), the 111 project (No. B17002), the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (No. Z171100002017002) and the Shenzhen Peacock Plan Team (No. KQTD2016022619565991).

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  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Bing-Chao Qin, Yu Xiao, Yi-Ming Zhou & Li-Dong Zhao

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  1. Bing-Chao Qin
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Correspondence to Li-Dong Zhao.

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Qin, BC., Xiao, Y., Zhou, YM. et al. Thermoelectric transport properties of Pb–Sn–Te–Se system. Rare Met. 37, 343–350 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-017-0991-9

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