Tunable quantum gaps to decouple carrier and phonon transport leading to high-performance thermoelectrics

Yong Yu, Xiao Xu, Yan Wang, Baohai Jia, Shan Huang, Xiaobin Qiang, Bin Zhu, Peijian Lin, Binbin Jiang, Shixuan Liu, Xia Qi, Kefan Pan, Di Wu, Haizhou Lu, Michel Bosman, Stephen J. Pennycook, Lin Xie () and Jiaqing He ()
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Yong Yu: Southern University of Science and Technology
Xiao Xu: Southern University of Science and Technology
Yan Wang: Southern University of Science and Technology
Baohai Jia: Southern University of Science and Technology
Shan Huang: Southern University of Science and Technology
Xiaobin Qiang: Southern University of Science and Technology
Bin Zhu: Southern University of Science and Technology
Peijian Lin: Southern University of Science and Technology
Binbin Jiang: Southern University of Science and Technology
Shixuan Liu: Southern University of Science and Technology
Xia Qi: Shaanxi Normal University; Key Laboratory for Macromolecular Science of Shaanxi Province
Kefan Pan: Southern University of Science and Technology
Di Wu: Shaanxi Normal University; Key Laboratory for Macromolecular Science of Shaanxi Province
Haizhou Lu: Southern University of Science and Technology
Michel Bosman: National University of Singapore
Stephen J. Pennycook: National University of Singapore
Lin Xie: Southern University of Science and Technology
Jiaqing He: Southern University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Thermoelectrics enable direct heat-to-electricity transformation, but their performance has so far been restricted by the closely coupled carrier and phonon transport. Here, we demonstrate that the quantum gaps, a class of planar defects characterized by nano-sized potential wells, can decouple carrier and phonon transport by selectively scattering phonons while allowing carriers to pass effectively. We choose the van der Waals gap in GeTe-based materials as a representative example of the quantum gap to illustrate the decoupling mechanism. The nano-sized potential well of the quantum gap in GeTe-based materials is directly visualized by in situ electron holography. Moreover, a more diffused distribution of quantum gaps results in further reduction of lattice thermal conductivity, which leads to a peak ZT of 2.6 at 673 K and an average ZT of 1.6 (323–723 K) in a GeTe system. The quantum gap can also be engineered into other thermoelectrics, which provides a general method for boosting their thermoelectric performance.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33330-9

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