Supercompliant Lattice Boosts n‐type AgSbTe<sub>2</sub> Thermoelectrics
Abstract AgSbTe 2 ‐based compounds, the most promising near‐room‐temperature thermoelectric material, so far fail to deliver n‐type performance neither theoretically nor experimentally. Its intrinsic electron‐killer defects with very low formation energy prevent conventional n‐type doping. Herein, the first n‐type AgSbTe 2 by building a supercompliant lattice, which is extremely soft with an n‐type doping efficiency far beyond the Hume–Rothery rule settled phase boundary, is reported. The overdosed supercompliant lattice gives Young's modulus lower than the 2D van der Waals crystals, globally softening the phonons. This results in a minimal sound velocity of 1950 m·s −1 , which lies far below all AgSbTe 2 ‐based compounds previously reported. The substantially softened phonons lead to a low κ of 0.27 W·m −1 ·K −1 that approaches the theoretical minimum. Accordingly, the n‐type Ag 0.8 Na 0.3 Sb 0.6 Bi 0.4 Te 2 demonstrates a ZT value of ≈0.45 at the near‐room‐temperature range, which is the highest n‐type performance ever reported. This work unlocks the door for AgSbTe 2 as an exceptional n‐type thermoelectric material.
Authors
- Zhen‐Hua Ge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8810-5103)
- Wen Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9180-3025)
- Pengfeï Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8780-7995)
- Suyao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0069-0972)
- Ruoyan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5337-9729)
- Lulu Huang
- Bangzhi Ge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1444-218X)
- Chongjian Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2245-3057)
- Shuai Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5963-3772)
- Yu Zhen Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3148-6600)
- Chunyu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8112-0201)
- Zhi Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7794-1763)
- Dongyao Zhao
- Yuanguang Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9678-7439)
- Bingchao Yang
- Yong-Sheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4162-0479)
Institutions
- Kunming University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Hefei University of Technology (CN)
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Qufu Normal University (CN)
- China Spallation Neutron Source (CN)
- Institute of High Energy Physics (CN)
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (CN)
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology (CN)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
- Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2025-03-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202502367
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.14
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing
- Key Technologies Research and Development Program