Stacking Fault Complexions in AgSbTe 2 Thermoelectrics With Enhanced Electrical Conductivity
Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 36
Abstract
ABSTRACT Designing nanostructures in thermoelectric materials is a very effective way to enhance the power conversion efficiency. Nanostructures can lead to a desirable reduction in the lattice thermal conductivity, but most of them also result in unwanted decrease in the electrical conductivity. In this work, stacking faults in AgSbTe 2 are found to simultaneously act as phonon scatterers and improve the electrical conductivity. Using electron channeling contrast imaging, a high density of stacking faults is identified at low‐angle grain boundaries in AgSbTe 2 . The atomic arrangement of the stacking faults is revealed by aberration‐corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Unlike conventional stacking faults, an additional translation vector of 1/8<111> causes a larger separation at the stacking faults. Segregation of Sb and Te and depletion in Ag at the stacking faults are quantified by atom probe tomography. The larger separation and chemical segregation increase the phonon scattering rate compared to undecorated stacking faults. Using electrical measurements at the micrometer scale, the chemically decorated stacking faults are found to consistently enhance the local electrical conductivity by 20% in the normal direction. Engineering crystal defect complexions to simultaneously promote electron conduction and phonon scattering adds a new dimension to thermoelectric materials design beyond their efficiency limit.
Authors 14
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Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien
Affiliation as printed
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Düsseldorf Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
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University of Trento · Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien
Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento Trento Italy
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Düsseldorf Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Physics IA RWTH Aachen University Aachen Germany
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Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Technion‐Israel Institute of Technology Haifa Israel
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Physics IA RWTH Aachen University Aachen Germany
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Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien
Affiliation as printed
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Düsseldorf Germany
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Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien · Pukyong National University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Pukyong National University Busan Republic of Korea
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Düsseldorf Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Northwestern University Evanston Illinois USA
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien · Groupe de Physique des Matériaux · Institut National des Sciences Appliquées Rouen Normandie
Affiliation as printed
CNRS INSA Rouen Normandie Groupe de Physique des Matériaux UMR 6634 Univ Rouen Normandie Rouen France
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Düsseldorf Germany
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Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Technion‐Israel Institute of Technology Haifa Israel
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University of Freiburg · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
INATECH University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany
Institute of Physics IA RWTH Aachen University Aachen Germany
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Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien
Affiliation as printed
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Düsseldorf Germany
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Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien
Affiliation as printed
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials Düsseldorf Germany
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