Enhancement of the thermoelectric properties of n-type PbTe by Na and Cl co-doping

Abstract

In an attempt to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, associated with severe environmental effects, the current research is focused on the enhancement of the direct thermal to electrical thermoelectric efficiency of n-type PbTe by Na and Cl co-doping. We show that such co-doping is expected to enhance the thermoelectric efficiency by more than 17% compared to any of the previously reported lanthanum or iodine doped single-phase compositions, due to reduced lattice thermal conductivity values, originated by lattice disordering and mass/radii fluctuations in addition to improved carrier mobilities, originated by lower effective masses.