Tunable quantum gaps to decouple carrier and phonon transport leading to high-performance thermoelectrics

Yu，Yong1,2; Xu，Xiao1; Wang，Yan1; Jia，Baohai1; Huang，Shan1; Qiang，Xiaobin1; Zhu，Bin1; Lin，Peijian1; Jiang，Binbin1; Liu，Shixuan1; Qi，Xia3; Pan，Kefan1; Wu，Di3; Lu，Haizhou1; Bosman，Michel2; Pennycook，Stephen J.2; Xie，Lin1; He，Jiaqing1,4

2022-12-01

10.1038/s41467-022-33330-9

Nature Communications   Impact Factor & Quartile

2041-1723

Thermoelectrics enable direct heat-to-electricity transformation, but their performance has so far been restricted by the closely coupled carrier and phonon transport. Here, we demonstrate that the quantum gaps, a class of planar defects characterized by nano-sized potential wells, can decouple carrier and phonon transport by selectively scattering phonons while allowing carriers to pass effectively. We choose the van der Waals gap in GeTe-based materials as a representative example of the quantum gap to illustrate the decoupling mechanism. The nano-sized potential well of the quantum gap in GeTe-based materials is directly visualized by in situ electron holography. Moreover, a more diffused distribution of quantum gaps results in further reduction of lattice thermal conductivity, which leads to a peak ZT of 2.6 at 673 K and an average ZT of 1.6 (323–723 K) in a GeTe system. The quantum gap can also be engineered into other thermoelectrics, which provides a general method for boosting their thermoelectric performance.

SCI

English

NI Journal Papers

First ; Corresponding

leading talents of the Guangdong Province Program[00201517] ; Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory[2019B121205001] ; Science and Technology Innovation Committee Foundation of Shenzhen["KQTD2016022619565991","JCYJ20190809145205497"] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China["51632005","11874194","11934007","12174176"] ; high level of special funds[G02206302]

Science & Technology - Other Topics

Multidisciplinary Sciences

WOS:000858076500012

NATURE PORTFOLIO

2-s2.0-85138459446

Scopus

1.Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Thermoelectric Materials,Department of Physics,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,518055,China
2.Department of Materials Science and Engineering,National University of Singapore,Singapore,117575,Singapore
3.School of Materials Science and Engineering,Shaanxi Normal University; Key Laboratory for Macromolecular Science of Shaanxi Province,Xi’an,710062,China
4.Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Photonic-Thermal-Electrical Energy Materials and Devices,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,518055,China

Yu，Yong,Xu，Xiao,Wang，Yan,et al. Tunable quantum gaps to decouple carrier and phonon transport leading to high-performance thermoelectrics[J]. Nature Communications,2022,13(1).

Yu，Yong.,Xu，Xiao.,Wang，Yan.,Jia，Baohai.,Huang，Shan.,...&He，Jiaqing.(2022).Tunable quantum gaps to decouple carrier and phonon transport leading to high-performance thermoelectrics.Nature Communications,13(1).

Yu，Yong,et al."Tunable quantum gaps to decouple carrier and phonon transport leading to high-performance thermoelectrics".Nature Communications 13.1(2022).