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Giant Pressure‐Induced Enhancement of Seebeck Coefficient and Thermoelectric Efficiency in SnTe
Author(s) -
Baker Jason,
Kumar Ravhi,
Park Changyong,
KenneyBenson Curtis,
Cornelius Andrew,
Velisavljevic Nenad
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201700994
Subject(s) - seebeck coefficient , thermoelectric effect , materials science , thermoelectric materials , electrical resistivity and conductivity , condensed matter physics , figure of merit , dimensionless quantity , diffraction , crystallite , thermal conductivity , analytical chemistry (journal) , thermodynamics , optoelectronics , chemistry , composite material , optics , metallurgy , physics , chromatography , quantum mechanics
The thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline SnTe have been measured up to 4.5 GPa at 330 K. SnTe shows an enormous enhancement in Seebeck coefficient, greater than 200 % after 3 GPa, which correlates to a known pressure‐induced structural phase transition that is observed through simultaneous in situ X‐ray diffraction measurement. Electrical resistance and relative changes to the thermal conductivity were also measured, enabling the determination of relative changes in the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT), which increases dramatically after 3 GPa, reaching 350 % of the lowest pressure ZT value. The results demonstrate a fundamental relationship between structure and thermoelectric behaviours and suggest that pressure is an effective tool to control them.