Understanding Phonon Scattering by Nanoprecipitates in Potassium-Doped Lead Chalcogenides

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• 作者：Zhao Wang ; Xiaolong YangDan Feng ; Haijun Wu ; Jesus Carrete ; Li-Dong Zhao ; Chao LiShaodong Cheng ; Biaolin Peng ; Guang Yang ; Jiaqing He
• 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 1, 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：9
• 期：4
• 页码：3686-3693
• 全文大小：615K
• ISSN：1944-8252

文摘

We present a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of phonon scattering by nanoprecipitates in potassium-doped PbTe, PbSe, and PbS. We highlight the role of the precipitate size distribution measured by microscopy, whose tuning allows for thermal conductivities lower than the limit achievable with a single size. The correlation between the size distribution and the contributions to thermal conductivity from phonons in different frequency ranges provides a physical basis to the experimentally measured thermal conductivities, and a criterion to estimate the lowest achievable thermal conductivity. The results have clear implications for efficiency enhancements in nanostructured bulk thermoelectrics.