Work

Rare earth doping and effective band-convergence in SnTe for improved thermoelectric performance

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Thermoelectric performance of SnTe has been found to enhance with isovalent doping of alkaline and transition metal elements where most of these elements have a solubility of less than 13%. We propose a strategy of doping rare earth element Yb to enhance the thermoelectric performance of SnTe. With heavy atomic mass and strong spin-orbit coupling, even the mild doping of Yb (∼5%) is enough to create a degeneracy via band-convergence which enhances the density of states near the Fermi level and improves the overall performance. Our transport data and first-principles calculations corroborate that nearly 5% Yb is an efficient dopant to achieve thermoelectric response which is equivalent to 9% of Mn doping. The results are useful for understanding the environmentally friendly thermoelectric SnTe.

Source: Applied Physics Letters

DOI: 10.1063/1.5055250

Authors: Somnath Acharya, Dibyendu Dey, Tulika Maitra, Ajay Soni, A. Taraphder

Institutions: Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: green

Funders: Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences