Retarding Ostwald ripening through Gibbs adsorption and interfacial complexions leads to high-performance SnTe thermoelectrics

Energy & Environmental Science, vol. 14, pp. 5469–5479

Abstract

Interfacial complexions formed by Gibbs adsorption of Ag retard the Ostwald ripening of CdTe precipitates in SnTe, minimizing the thermal conductivity. Combined with the band convergence, a high and stable zT of 1.5 is obtained in SnAg 0.05 Te-6%CdSe.

Authors 15

1. Decheng An

   Taiyuan University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

2. Jiangjing Wang Aachen Institute of Physics IA

   Xi'an Jiaotong University · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Alloy Innovation and Design, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

   Institute of Physics IA, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

   Center for Alloy Innovation and Design, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China

3. Jie Zhang

   Taiyuan University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

4. Xin Zhai

   Taiyuan University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

5. Wenhao Fan

   Taiyuan University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

6. Jian Wu Yan

   Hefei University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China

7. Yequn Liu

   Chinese Academy of Sciences · Institute of Coal Chemistry · State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion

   Affiliation as printed

   Analytical Instrumentation Center, State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan 030001, China

8. Lu Lu

   Xi'an Jiaotong University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

   School of Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China

9. Chun‐Lin Jia

   Xi'an Jiaotong University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

   School of Microelectronics, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China

10. Matthias Wuttig Aachen Institute of Physics IA

    RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Physics IA, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

11. Oana Cojocaru‐Mirédin Aachen Institute of Physics IA

    RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Physics IA, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

12. Shaoping Chen corresponding

    Taiyuan University of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

13. Wenxian Wang corresponding

    Taiyuan University of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

14. Gerald Jeffrey Snyder

    Northwestern University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA

15. Yuan Yu corresponding Aachen Institute of Physics IA

    RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Physics IA, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany