N-type Doped PbTe and PbSe Alloys for Thermoelectric Applications

Pei, Yanzhong ; Wang, Heng ; Snyder, G. Jeffrey ; LaLonde, Aaron

PID  :  NTRS Document ID: 20150003377

学科分类：能源（综合）

美国|英语

来源: NASA Technical Reports Server

【 摘 要 】

The present invention demonstrates that weak scattering of carriers leads to a high mobility and therefore helps achieve low electric resistivity with high Seebeck coefficient for a thermoelectric material. The inventors demonstrate this effect by obtaining a thermoelectric figure of merit, zT, higher than 1.3 at high temperatures in n-type PbSe, because of the weak scattering of carriers in the conduction band as compared with that in the valence band. The invention further demonstrates favorable thermoelectric transport properties of n-type PbTe.sub.1-xI.sub.x with carrier concentrations ranging from 5.8.times.10.sup.18-1.4.times.10.sup.20 cm.sup.-3.