Efficient power generation near room temperature in earth-abundant thermoelectric tin sulfide via lattice ordering

The inefficient carrier transport of earth-abundant tin sulfide (SnS), arising from its intrinsically low crystal symmetry, limits its thermoelectric performance at low temperatures. Here, the substitutional Ag+ doping modifies the Na-doped SnS crystal structure by reinforcing lattice dynamical anisotropy and enhancing in-plane transport properties. Concurrently, the reconstructed valence-band structure evolves into a modulated multiband configuration, increasing the density-of-states effective mass while preserving high carrier mobility. The resulting highly metallic conductivity combined with high thermopower yields the room-temperature power factor of ~101 µW cm−1K−2 in Sn0.96Na0.01Ag0.03S single crystals. Coupled with the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of SnS, the optimized crystal achieves the figure of merit (zT) of ~1.06 at 300 K and ~2.0 at 573 K, delivering a conversion efficiency of ~3.3% and an output power density of ~0.31 W cm−2 in a single-leg module under a 243 K temperature gradient. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of crystal structure modification and multiband engineering in SnS and establish it as a highly promising low-cost thermoelectric material for near-room-temperature energy conversion. This study shows that reshaping the crystal and electronic structures of SnS overcomes competing charge transport properties, enabling high thermoelectric performance and efficient energy conversion near room temperature.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-09-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77691-x
Primary Topic
Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Efficient power generation near room temperature in earth-abundant thermoelectric tin sulfide via lattice ordering

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Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
article

Efficient power generation near room temperature in earth-abundant thermoelectric tin sulfide via lattice ordering

Suneesh Meledath Valiyaveettil, Peramaiyan Ganesan, Cheng‐Maw Cheng, Kei Hayashi, Carmelo Prestipino, Wei-ching Lai, Ming‐Wen Chu, Raman Sankar, Bo‐Chia Chen, Muhammad Yusuf Fakhri, Emmanuel Guilmeau, Chien-Ching Chang, Kuei‐Hsien Chen, Ching-Yueh Huang, Li–Chyong Chen, Hsin‐Jay Wu, Duc‐Long Nguyen, Zi‐Liang Yang, Chien‐Neng Liao, Ya‐Ping Chiu, Ming-Hao Lee, Shin Sato, Abhishek Ghosh, Hans Hong-Ming Jheng
article en

Abstract

The inefficient carrier transport of earth-abundant tin sulfide (SnS), arising from its intrinsically low crystal symmetry, limits its thermoelectric performance at low temperatures. Here, the substitutional Ag+ doping modifies the Na-doped SnS crystal structure by reinforcing lattice dynamical anisotropy and enhancing in-plane transport properties. Concurrently, the reconstructed valence-band structure evolves into a modulated multiband configuration, increasing the density-of-states effective mass while preserving high carrier mobility. The resulting highly metallic conductivity combined with high thermopower yields the room-temperature power factor of ~101 µW cm−1K−2 in Sn0.96Na0.01Ag0.03S single crystals. Coupled with the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of SnS, the optimized crystal achieves the figure of merit (zT) of ~1.06 at 300 K and ~2.0 at 573 K, delivering a conversion efficiency of ~3.3% and an output power density of ~0.31 W cm−2 in a single-leg module under a 243 K temperature gradient. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of crystal structure modification and multiband engineering in SnS and establish it as a highly promising low-cost thermoelectric material for near-room-temperature energy conversion. This study shows that reshaping the crystal and electronic structures of SnS overcomes competing charge transport properties, enabling high thermoelectric performance and efficient energy conversion near room temperature.

Nature Communications
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), National Taiwan University (TW), Tohoku University (JP), National Tsing Hua University (TW), National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (TW), Normandie Université (FR), Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica (TW), Van Lang University (VN), Development Center for Biotechnology (TW), Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica (TW), Academia Sinica (TW), Université de Caen Normandie (FR)
Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University, National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, National Science and Technology Council
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 25%
Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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