In-situ resonant band engineering of solution-processed semiconductors generates high performance n-type thermoelectric nano-inks

Ayaskanta Sahu, Boris Russ, Miao Liu, Fan Yang, Edmond W. Zaia, Madeleine P. Gordon, Jason D. Forster, Ya-Qian Zhang, Mary C. Scott, Kristin A. Persson, Nelson E. Coates, Rachel A. Segalman and Jeffrey J. Urban ()
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Ayaskanta Sahu: New York University
Boris Russ: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Miao Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fan Yang: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Edmond W. Zaia: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Madeleine P. Gordon: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Jason D. Forster: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Ya-Qian Zhang: University of California Berkeley
Mary C. Scott: University of California Berkeley
Kristin A. Persson: Energy Technologies Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Nelson E. Coates: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Rachel A. Segalman: University of California Santa Barbara
Jeffrey J. Urban: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Thermoelectric devices possess enormous potential to reshape the global energy landscape by converting waste heat into electricity, yet their commercial implementation has been limited by their high cost to output power ratio. No single “champion” thermoelectric material exists due to a broad range of material-dependent thermal and electrical property optimization challenges. While the advent of nanostructuring provided a general design paradigm for reducing material thermal conductivities, there exists no analogous strategy for homogeneous, precise doping of materials. Here, we demonstrate a nanoscale interface-engineering approach that harnesses the large chemically accessible surface areas of nanomaterials to yield massive, finely-controlled, and stable changes in the Seebeck coefficient, switching a poor nonconventional p-type thermoelectric material, tellurium, into a robust n-type material exhibiting stable properties over months of testing. These remodeled, n-type nanowires display extremely high power factors (~500 µW m−1K−2) that are orders of magnitude higher than their bulk p-type counterparts.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15933-2

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