Nature Communications (Jan 2017)

Discovery of high-performance low-cost n-type Mg3Sb2-based thermoelectric materials with multi-valley conduction bands

  • Jiawei Zhang,
  • Lirong Song,
  • Steffen Hindborg Pedersen,
  • Hao Yin,
  • Le Thanh Hung,
  • Bo Brummerstedt Iversen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13901
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Zintl-phase thermoelectrics are predominantly p-type. Here, Zhanget al. use tellurium to n-dope Mg3Sb1.5Bi0.5and obtain thermoelectric figures of merit up to 1.6 at 700 K. Calculations show that these performances result from a conduction band with sixfold valley degeneracy.