Abstract
SnTe, as a potential medium-temperature thermoelectric material, reaches a maximum power factor (PF)usually above 750K, which is not conducive to continuous high-power output in practical applications. In this study, PF is maintained at high values between 18.5 and 25µWcm-1K-2 for Sn0.99In0.01Te-xwt% tourmaline samples within the temperature range of 323 to 873K, driving the highest PFeng of 1.2Wm-1K-1 and PFave of 22.5µWcm-1K-2, over 2.5 times that of pristine SnTe. Such an extraordinary PF is attributed to the synergy of resonant levels and Sn vacancy suppression. Specifically, the Seebeck coefficient increases dramatically, reaching 88µVK-1 at room temperature. Meanwhile, by Sn vacancy suppression, carrier concentration, and mobility are optimized to ≈1019cm-3 and 740cm2V-1s-1, respectively. With the tourmaline compositing, Sn vacancies are further suppressed and the thermal conductivity simultaneously decreases, with the minimum lattice thermal conductivity of 0.9W m-1 K-1. Finally, the zT value ≈0.8 is obtained in the Sn0.99In0.01Te sample. The peak of the power output density reaches 0.89W cm-2 at a temperature difference of 600K. Such SnTe alloys with high and "temperature-independent" PF will offer an option for realizing high output power in thermoelectric devices.
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