Realizing record high performance in n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric materials

Bin Zhu; Xixi Liu; Qi Wang; Yang Qiu; Zhong Shu; Zuteng Guo; Yao Tong; Juan Cui; Meng Gu; Jiaqing He

doi:10.1039/d0ee01349h

Realizing record high performance in n-type Bi₂Te₃-based thermoelectric materials

Bin Zhu (Co-first Author)
, Xixi Liu (Co-first Author)
, Qi Wang (Co-first Author)
, Yang Qiu
, Zhong Shu
, Zuteng Guo
, Yao Tong
, Juan Cui
, Meng Gu
, Jiaqing He^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

441 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The application of Bi2Te3-based power generation is seriously hindered by the poor n-type samples, demonstrating a strong demand for high-performance n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric (TE) materials. However, the strong relationship between thermal and electrical transport limits the improvement of the TE properties. Here, we propose a strategy to enhance the Seebeck coefficient while retaining a large electrical conductivity in n-type (Bi,Sb)₂(Te,Se)₃ materials through introducing electron transport potential wells and texturing. The thermal conductivity was also successfully decreased by constructing multi-scale phonon scattering structures. Consequently, a record maximum and average thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.4 and ∼1.3 were achieved in the Bi_1.8Sb_0.2Te_2.7Se_0.3 + 15 wt% Te sample at a temperature of 300-575 K. A TE power generation module was fabricated with this n-type material and a home-made p-type Bi₂Te₃ sample. It demonstrated a record conversion efficiency of 6.6% at a temperature gradient of 235 K, representing about an 88% improvement compared with a commercial zone-melt Bi₂Te₃-based module. © 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2106-2114
Number of pages	9
Journal	Energy and Environmental Science
Volume	13
Issue number	7
Online published	8 Jun 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee01349h
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2020
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This contribution was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11934007, 11874194, 51632005, and 51702150), the Leading Talents of the Guangdong Province Program (Grant No. 00201517), the Shenzhen DRC project [2018] 1433, and the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of the Shenzhen Municipality (Grant No. KQTD2016022619565991 and ZDSYS20141118160434515). The authors acknowledge the assistance of SUSTech Core Research Facilities.

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title = "Realizing record high performance in n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric materials",

abstract = "The application of Bi2Te3-based power generation is seriously hindered by the poor n-type samples, demonstrating a strong demand for high-performance n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric (TE) materials. However, the strong relationship between thermal and electrical transport limits the improvement of the TE properties. Here, we propose a strategy to enhance the Seebeck coefficient while retaining a large electrical conductivity in n-type (Bi,Sb)2(Te,Se)3 materials through introducing electron transport potential wells and texturing. The thermal conductivity was also successfully decreased by constructing multi-scale phonon scattering structures. Consequently, a record maximum and average thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.4 and ∼1.3 were achieved in the Bi1.8Sb0.2Te2.7Se0.3 + 15 wt\% Te sample at a temperature of 300-575 K. A TE power generation module was fabricated with this n-type material and a home-made p-type Bi2Te3 sample. It demonstrated a record conversion efficiency of 6.6\% at a temperature gradient of 235 K, representing about an 88\% improvement compared with a commercial zone-melt Bi2Te3-based module. {\textcopyright} 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry.",

author = "Bin Zhu and Xixi Liu and Qi Wang and Yang Qiu and Zhong Shu and Zuteng Guo and Yao Tong and Juan Cui and Meng Gu and Jiaqing He",

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T1 - Realizing record high performance in n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric materials

AU - Zhu, Bin

AU - Liu, Xixi

AU - Wang, Qi

AU - Qiu, Yang

AU - Shu, Zhong

AU - Guo, Zuteng

AU - Tong, Yao

AU - Cui, Juan

AU - Gu, Meng

AU - He, Jiaqing

PY - 2020/7/1

Y1 - 2020/7/1

N2 - The application of Bi2Te3-based power generation is seriously hindered by the poor n-type samples, demonstrating a strong demand for high-performance n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric (TE) materials. However, the strong relationship between thermal and electrical transport limits the improvement of the TE properties. Here, we propose a strategy to enhance the Seebeck coefficient while retaining a large electrical conductivity in n-type (Bi,Sb)2(Te,Se)3 materials through introducing electron transport potential wells and texturing. The thermal conductivity was also successfully decreased by constructing multi-scale phonon scattering structures. Consequently, a record maximum and average thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.4 and ∼1.3 were achieved in the Bi1.8Sb0.2Te2.7Se0.3 + 15 wt% Te sample at a temperature of 300-575 K. A TE power generation module was fabricated with this n-type material and a home-made p-type Bi2Te3 sample. It demonstrated a record conversion efficiency of 6.6% at a temperature gradient of 235 K, representing about an 88% improvement compared with a commercial zone-melt Bi2Te3-based module. © 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

AB - The application of Bi2Te3-based power generation is seriously hindered by the poor n-type samples, demonstrating a strong demand for high-performance n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric (TE) materials. However, the strong relationship between thermal and electrical transport limits the improvement of the TE properties. Here, we propose a strategy to enhance the Seebeck coefficient while retaining a large electrical conductivity in n-type (Bi,Sb)2(Te,Se)3 materials through introducing electron transport potential wells and texturing. The thermal conductivity was also successfully decreased by constructing multi-scale phonon scattering structures. Consequently, a record maximum and average thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.4 and ∼1.3 were achieved in the Bi1.8Sb0.2Te2.7Se0.3 + 15 wt% Te sample at a temperature of 300-575 K. A TE power generation module was fabricated with this n-type material and a home-made p-type Bi2Te3 sample. It demonstrated a record conversion efficiency of 6.6% at a temperature gradient of 235 K, representing about an 88% improvement compared with a commercial zone-melt Bi2Te3-based module. © 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

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