Thermoelectrics articles within Nature Materials

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  • News & Views |

    Restricting the directional segregation of mobile ions via strategic local ion confinement allows remarkable thermoelectric performance with better stability.

    • Animesh Bhui
    •  & Kanishka Biswas

  • Article |

    Cu2Se is of interest for thermoelectrics as it is environmentally sustainable and has a high figure of merit ZT; however, copper ion migration impacts device stability. Here a co-doping strategy that combines steric and electrostatic effects is shown to improve device stability as well as improving ZT to 3.

    • Haihua Hu
    • , Yiwei Ju
    •  & Jing-Feng Li

  • Feature |

    Joseph Heremans and Joshua Martin discuss the reproducibility of thermoelectric measurements and conclude that the uncertainty on the figure of merit zT is of the order of 15–20%.

    • Joseph P. Heremans
    •  & Joshua Martin

  • Letter
    | Open Access

    Cubic materials such as GeTe have low lattice thermal conductivity, thought to arise from a non-cubic local structural transition. Here, using a variable-shutter pair distribution function method, the average structure is shown to be crystalline but with anisotropic dynamics at higher temperatures.

    • Simon A. J. Kimber
    • , Jiayong Zhang
    •  & Simon J. L. Billinge

  • News & Views |

    Despite its tiny magnetization, the non-collinear antiferromagnet YbMnBi2 is shown to possess exceptional transverse thermoelectric performance owing to its anisotropic transport properties.

    • Ken-ichi Uchida

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) in topological materials with large Berry curvature shows great potential for transverse thermoelectrics, but antiferromagnets typically show small ANEs. The antiferromagnet YbMnBi2 has an ANE thermopower of 3 μV K−1, similar to ferromagnets, and a larger ANE conductivity.

    • Yu Pan
    • , Congcong Le
    •  & Claudia Felser

  • Review Article |

    Thermoelectric materials can generate energy from a heat differential. This Review provides an overview of mid- to high-temperature thermoelectrics, their application in modules, and the issues that need to be addressed to enable commercial implementation of state-of-the-art materials.

    • Qingyu Yan
    •  & Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

  • News & Views |

    Through meticulous care for detail, researchers have now shattered the ceiling on thermoelectric performance, achieving a figure of merit above 3 for bulk SnSe polycrystalline powder.

    • Bo Brummerstedt Iversen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    SnSe has a very high thermoelectric figure of merit ZT, but uncommonly polycrystalline samples have higher lattice thermal conductivity than single crystals. Here, by controlling Sn reagent purity and removing SnOx impurities, a lower thermal conductivity is achieved, enabling ZT of 3.1 at 783 K.

    • Chongjian Zhou
    • , Yong Kyu Lee
    •  & In Chung

  • News & Views |

    A multifunctional device produces a much-improved thermoelectric-driven transverse voltage by exploiting a thermoelectric current to drive an anomalous Hall effect in a ferromagnet.

    • Andrew F. May
    •  & Brian C. Sales

  • Letter |

    Transverse thermeoelectrics can simplify devices as the electric field and heat gradient are perpendicular, but the power output is much less than in standard devices. Here, by forming a closed circuit of thermoelectric and magnetic materials, a much larger transverse thermopower is generated.

    • Weinan Zhou
    • , Kaoru Yamamoto
    •  & Yuya Sakuraba

  • Perspective |

    Thermoelectric materials can generate electricity from waste heat but can also use electricity for cooling. This Perspective discusses coefficients of performance for these systems and the state-of-the-art for materials, and suggests strategies for the discovery of improved thermoelectric materials.

    • Jun Mao
    • , Gang Chen
    •  & Zhifeng Ren

  • News & Views |

    Inducing a topological phase transition by applying pressure is shown to be a successful strategy for improving the performance of thermoelectric materials.

    • Qiang Li

  • Letter |

    Investigation of the thermal transport properties of AgCrSe2 reveals complete suppression of the transverse acoustic phonons by ultrafast dynamic disorder with only the longitudinal acoustic mode surviving, resembling the thermal conduction of liquids.

    • B. Li
    • , H. Wang
    •  & M. G. Kanatzidis

  • News & Views |

    The spin Nernst effect — a spin accumulation in a ferromagnet in the direction normal to an applied thermal gradient and external magnetic field — has been experimentally demonstrated.

    • Joseph P. Heremans

  • News & Views |

    Heat travelling down a thermal gradient has been found to undergo a significant deflection by a magnetic field in a multiferroic insulator.

    • Xavier Moya
    •  & Neil D. Mathur

  • Feature |

    Xun Shi and Lidong Chen summarize recent progress in the field of thermoelectric materials in China, and discuss steps towards the realization of commercially viable devices.

    • Xun Shi
    •  & Lidong Chen

  • Letter |

    Disordering in complex oxides is important for their radiation resistance. It is now shown that pyrochlores disorder by the formation of a weberite-like phase, with similar behaviour observed in spinels, adding complexity to their disordering.

    • Jacob Shamblin
    • , Mikhail Feygenson
    •  & Maik Lang

  • News & Views |

    Optimizing the electronic functionality of a thermoelectric molecular junction depends on both the chemistry of the molecule and external environmental conditions.

    • Gemma C. Solomon

  • Letter |

    The thermoelectric response of a fullerene–gold electrode single-molecule junction has been studied in a scanning tunnelling microscope. The junction exhibits positive and negative thermopower, dependent on molecule orientation and applied pressure.

    • Laura Rincón-García
    • , Ali K. Ismael
    •  & Colin J. Lambert

  • Commentary |

    Twenty years ago, the 'phonon-glass, electron-crystal' concept changed thinking in thermoelectric materials research, resulting in new high-performance materials and an increased focus on controlling structure and chemical bonding to minimize irreversible heat transport in crystals.

    • Matt Beekman
    • , Donald T. Morelli
    •  & George S. Nolas

  • News & Views |

    Conjugated polymers with high electrical conductivity and high thermopower are now demonstrated. The electronic structure of these materials is that of a semi-metal, a previously unreported state for organic conductors.

    • Michael Chabinyc

  • Letter |

    Understanding the thermal transport properties of superlattice structures is relevant to a number of possible practical applications. Now, the scattering of phonons in oxide superlattices is shown to undergo a crossover from an incoherent to a coherent regime, which in turn strongly alters their thermal behaviour.

    • Jayakanth Ravichandran
    • , Ajay K. Yadav
    •  & Mark A. Zurbuchen

  • Letter |

    Clathrate materials have been the subject of intense investigation because of their beneficial properties, in particular their low thermal conductivities. Now, improved thermopower at high temperatures arising from strong electron correlation effects has been achieved in a type-I clathrate containing cerium guest atoms.

    • A. Prokofiev
    • , A. Sidorenko
    •  & S. Paschen

  • Letter |

    Sodium cobaltate has latterly received attention due to its appealing thermoelectric properties. By combining inelastic X-ray and neutron scattering results with detailed first-principles calculations, it is now shown that low-energy rattling modes of sodium ions within multi-vacancy clusters play a central role in determining the low thermal conductivity of this material.

    • D. J. Voneshen
    • , K. Refson
    •  & J. P. Goff

  • Article |

    Heat is a form of energy that is transported from a hot to a cold region, but it is not a notion that is associated with the microscopic measurement of electronic properties. It is now shown that local thermoelectric measurements can be used for imaging structural disorder in graphene, with high sensitivity, on the atomic and nanometre scales, uncovering soliton-like domain-wall line-patterns separating different graphene regions.

    • Sanghee Cho
    • , Stephen Dongmin Kang
    •  & Ho-Ki Lyeo

  • Letter |

    The conversion efficiency of heat to electricity in thermoelectric materials depends on both their thermopower and electrical conductivity. It is now reported that, unlike their inorganic counterparts, organic thermoelectric materials show an improvement in both these parameters when the volume of dopant elements is minimized; furthermore, a high conversion efficiency is achieved in PEDOT:PSS blends.

    • G-H. Kim
    • , L. Shao
    •  & K. P. Pipe

  • Letter |

    The silver chalcogenide semimetals are known for their appealing magnetoresistive properties. It is now shown that when copper silver selenide is doped with nickel, these properties are maintained, resulting in high electron mobilities and, in turn, a significant thermoelectric effect.

    • S. Ishiwata
    • , Y. Shiomi
    •  & Y. Tokura

  • Letter |

    The optical and electronic performance of inorganic nanocrystal assemblies stabilized by organic ligands has been extensively investigated, whereas less attention has been paid to their thermal transport properties. It is now shown that the thermal conductivity of these composite systems is determined by the vibrational states of both inorganic and ligand regions, as well as by their relative volumes.

    • Wee-Liat Ong
    • , Sara M. Rupich
    •  & Jonathan A. Malen

  • Letter |

    A thin layer of yttrium iron garnet coating on different materials can transform wasted heat into voltage. The process is based on the spin Seebeck effect and could lead to new types of application that make use of omnipresent wasted heat.

    • Akihiro Kirihara
    • , Ken-ichi Uchida
    •  & Shinichi Yorozu

  • Review Article |

    Spin caloritronics focuses on the interaction of electron spins with heat currents. This Review describes newly discovered physical effects that have re-invigorated the field by stimulating further research into understanding the fundamentals of spin–phonon interactions, and providing new avenues to explore to improve current thermoelectric technology.

    • Gerrit E. W. Bauer
    • , Eiji Saitoh
    •  & Bart J. van Wees

  • Letter |

    A common route to obtain efficient thermoelectrics is to optimize the ratio between electrical and thermal conductivity. Typically, materials with a complex, glass-like phonon structure and therefore a very low thermal conductivity are studied. Now, a route showing that solid ions in a liquid-like state can have a low enough thermal conductivity to compete with the best existing thermoelectrics is proposed.

    • Huili Liu
    • , Xun Shi
    •  & G. Jeffrey Snyder

  • Article |

    In the quest for more efficient thermoelectrics, a common strategy has been to introduce nanostructures in bulk crystals, thus reducing the thermal conductivity without affecting the electrical transport properties. A route is now presented in which the aggregation of nanoplatelets creates nanostructured materials that have higher thermoelectric efficiencies than their bulk counterparts.

    • Rutvik J. Mehta
    • , Yanliang Zhang
    •  & Ganpati Ramanath

  • Review Article |

    The thermal properties of nanostructures have become a fundamental topic owing to the necessity of heat removal in increasingly smaller electronic devices. Carbon allotropes present a range of intriguing thermal features, with the thermal conductivity spanning five orders of magnitude at room temperature. The topic is reviewed here with particular emphasis on graphene, which exhibits the highest thermal conductivity observed.

    • Alexander A. Balandin

  • News & Views |

    Results show that achievable improvements may make solar thermoelectric generators competitive with other solar power conversion methods.

    • Jacob Karni

  • Article |

    Neutron scattering and first-principles calculations show that the small thermal conductivity of PbTe is due to anharmonic coupling between the acoustic phonon modes and the optical ferroelectric ones. The results provide a microscopic picture of why many good thermoelectrics are found near a ferroelectric lattice instability.

    • O. Delaire
    • , J. Ma
    •  & B. C. Sales

  • News & Views |

    Efficient energy harvesting from temperature gradients requires thermoelectric materials with low thermal and high electrical conductivities. A conducting polymer can fulfil these conditions if its doping level is controlled precisely.

    • Mario Leclerc
    •  & Ahmed Najari

  • Article |

    The conversion of sunlight into electricity has been dominated by photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation. A highly efficient solar to electric energy conversion device based on nanostructured thermoelectric materials and high solar concentration is now demonstrated. The results show potential for cost effective solar thermoelectric generation.

    • Daniel Kraemer
    • , Bed Poudel
    •  & Gang Chen

  • Letter |

    The ability to propagate heat in a film should improve with increasing thickness. However, graphene has a higher thermal conductivity than graphite, despite having a smaller thickness. The crossover from two-dimensional to bulk graphite is now studied experimentally and explained theoretically. The results may pave the way to thermal management applications in nanoelectronics.

    • Suchismita Ghosh
    • , Wenzhong Bao
    •  & Alexander A. Balandin

  • Article |

    Tailoring the thermal conductivity of nanostructured materials is a fundamental challenge for nano- and microelectronics heat management. It is now demonstrated how to modify the thermal conductivity of SiGe by engineering nanodot inclusions in regions as short as 15 nm. A similar approach could used on other materials, extending the range of thermal conductivities available.

    • G. Pernot
    • , M. Stoffel
    •  & N. Mingo

  • News & Views |

    Carbon nanotubes direct chemically produced thermal waves, providing propulsion and thermopower waves that create electrical energy.

    • Ali E. Aliev
    •  & Ray H. Baughman

  • Article |

    An exothermic chemical reaction coupled with a one-dimensional conductor has been predicted to give rise to self-propagating waves with high thermal conductivity. This is now demonstrated experimentally with carbon nanotubes used as guides for the waves, which propagate with high thermal conductivity and with electric pulses of very intense power.

    • Wonjoon Choi
    • , Seunghyun Hong
    •  & Michael S. Strano

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