Decoupling Carrier-Phonon Scattering Boosts the Thermoelectric Performance of n-Type GeTe-Based Materials

• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c12546
• Publication Date: 2024-01-05T07:25:35Z
• Authors: De-Zhuang Wang; Wei-Di Liu; Yuanqing Mao; Shuai Li; Liang-Cao Yin; Hao Wu; Meng Li; Yifeng Wang; Xiao-Lei Shi; Xiaoning Yang; Qingfeng Liu; Zhi-Gang Chen
• Keywords: Phonon scattering; Decoupling (probability); Carrier scattering

The coupled relationship between carrier and phonon scattering severely limits the thermoelectric performance of n-type GeTe materials. Here, we provide an efficient strategy to enlarge grains induce vacancy clusters for decoupling carrier-phonon through annealing optimization GeTe-based Specifically, boundary migration is used by optimizing time, while are induced aggregation Ge vacancies during annealing. Such enlarged can weaken scattering, strengthen leading decoupled scattering. As a result, ratio mobility lattice thermal conductivity ∼492.8 cm3 V–1 s–1 W–1 K peak ZT ∼0.4 at 473 achieved in Ge0.67Pb0.13Bi0.2Te. This work reveals critical roles demonstrates viability fabricating high-performance materials via optimization.