Structural effects on the lattice thermal conductivity of ternary antimony- and bismuth-containing chalcogenide semiconductors

The lattice thermal conductivities Cu(3)SbSe(4) and Cu(3)SbSe(3) have been measured. While the former compound exhibits classical behavior, the lattice thermal conductivity of Cu(3)SbSe(3) is anomalously low. We speculate that, similar to the case of AgSbTe(2), the low thermal conductivity in Cu(3)SbSe(3) has its origin in strong anharmonicity induced by the presence of the two additional nonbonding electrons in the valence shell of the Sb(3+) ions. Anomalously low thermal conductivity is also demonstrated in compounds in which Bi occurs in the trivalent state. The results have implications in the design of thermoelectric semiconductors with intrinsically low thermal conductivity. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3425886]