High thermoelectric performance in GeTe with compositional insensitivity

Thermoelectric materials have obtained worldwide attention as they are attractive for waste heat recovery and solid-state cooling. However, their performance is usually sensitive to material compositions, which is less favorable for industrial applications. In this work, we developed composition-insensitive GeTe-based compounds ((100-x-y)%GeTe-x%CuBiSe2-y%PbTe, CBSx-Pby) with high ZT(max) as well as ZT(ave) values. The compositional insensitivity can be associated with the persistently high quality factors across the range of compositions. This is largely due to the interplay between electrical and thermal transport caused by the synergy of CuBiSe2 and PbTe alloying. CuBiSe2 alloying can effectively tune the carrier concentrations, while PbTe alloying can significantly decrease the thermal conductivity at a minor sacrifice of electrical properties. The combined effects of CuBiSe2 and PbTe alloying lead to high carrier mobility of 60 cm(2)V(-1)s(-1) and low thermal conductivities for CBSx-Pby samples simultaneously. Consequently, high ZT(ave) values of 1.4-1.5 in the temperature range of 400 K and 773 K for broad compositions (CBS3-Pby, y = 2 - 8 and CBSx-Pb6, x = 2 - 5) are achieved. A single-leg module is also fabricated, which shows a high power density of 1.46 W/cm(2) and an excellent efficiency of 13.4%. The high ZT(ave) with compositional insensitivity and the outstanding module performance demonstrate the promising large-scale application of the developed GeTe-based compositions.

Automated summary

In this study, composition-insensitive GeTe-based compounds with high thermoelectric coefficients and excellent module performance were developed, suitable for waste heat recovery and solid-state cooling applications.