Effects of La doping induced carrier concentration regulation and band structure modification on thermoelectric properties of PbSe. (1st February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xu, Fang; Zhang, Dan; Gao, Shikang; Yang, Lei; San, Xingyuan; Li, Zhiliang; Qian, Xin; Yang, Junyou; Wang, Shufang
• Is Part Of: Scripta materialia. Number 208(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-02-01
• Subjects: Thermoelectric -- N-type PbSe -- Carrier concentration regulation -- Band structure engineering -- Rare-earth metal doping; Materials -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Metalen; Legeringen; Materiaalkunde; Metals, metalworking and machinery industries; Metals; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2021.114360
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6462

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract Abstract: Here, we have systematically explored the effects of rare-earth metal La doping on the thermoelectric properties of PbSe. The results show that i) La is an effective n-type dopant to regulate the carrier concentration, ii) La-doping can flatten the conduct band of PbSe to increase the effective mass and thus the improved Seebeck coefficient. Under the combined regulation of carrier concentration and band structure, a high average power factor of 1650 µW.m −1 K −2 among 300-873 K is obtained. Meanwhile, the lattice thermal conductivity will be reduced due to the extra point defect scattering and the depressed bipolar conduct by La doping. Finally, a peak ZT of 0.96 and a high average ZT of 0.71 among 300-873 K are achieved in the 0.125% La doped sample. The multiple beneficial effects stemming from rare-earth metal La doping is an important finding that will stimulate new exploration toward high-performance n-type PbSe-based thermoelectric materials.