Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.134, No.24, 10031-10038, 2012
Heavy Doping and Band Engineering by Potassium to Improve the Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in p-Type PbTe, PbSe, and PbTe1-ySey
We present detailed studies of potassium doping in PbTe1-ySey (y = 0, 0.15, 0.25, 0.75, 0.85, 0.95, and 1). It was found that Se increases the doping concentration of K in PbTe as a result of the balance of electronegativity and also lowers the lattice thermal conductivity because of the increased number of point defects. Tuning the composition and carrier concentration to increase the density of states around the Fermi level results in higher Seebeck coefficients for the two valence bands of PbTe1-ySey. Peak thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) values of similar to 1.6 and similar to 1.7 were obtained for Te-rich K0.02Pb0.98Te0.75Se0.25 us at 773 K and Se-rich K0.02Pb0.98Te0.15Se0.85 at 873 K, respectively. However, the average ZT was higher in Te-rich compositions than in Se-rich compositions, with the best found in K0.02Pb0.98Te0.75Se0.25. Such a result is due to the improved electron transport afforded by heavy K doping with the assistance of Se.