Enhancement of thermoelectric performance across the topological phase transition in dense lead selenide.
Nat Mater
; 18(12): 1321-1326, 2019 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31591530
ABSTRACT
Alternative technologies are required in order to meet a worldwide demand for clean non-polluting energy sources. Thermoelectric generators, which generate electricity from heat in a compact and reliable manner, are potential devices for waste heat recovery. However, thermoelectric performance, as encapsulated by the figure of merit ZT, has remained at around 1.0 at room temperature, which has limited practical applications. Here, we study the effects of pressure on ZT in Cr-doped PbSe, which has a maximum ZT of less than 1.0 at a temperature of about 700 K. By applying external pressure using a diamond anvil cell, we obtained a room-temperature ZT value of about 1.7. From thermoelectric, magnetoresistance and Raman measurements, as well as density functional theory calculations, a pressure-driven topological phase transition is found to enable this enhancement. Experiments also support the appearance of a topological crystalline insulator after the transition. These findings point to the possibility of using compression to increase not just ZT in existing thermoelectric materials, but also the possibility of realizing topological crystalline insulators.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Mater
Assunto da revista:
CIENCIA
/
QUIMICA
Ano de publicação:
2019
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
China