Room-Temperature Thermoelectric Performance of n-Type Multiphase Pseudobinary Bi₂Te₃-Bi₂S₃ Compounds: Synergic Effects of Phonon Scattering and Energy Filtering

Bismuth telluride-based alloys possess the highest efficiencies for the low-temperature-range (<500 K) applications among thermoelectric materials. Despite significant advances in the efficiency of p-type Bi₂Te₃-based materials through engineering the electronic band structure by convergence of multiple bands, the n-type pair still suffers from poor efficiency due to a lower number of electron pockets near the conduction band edge than the valence band. To overcome the persistent low efficiency of n-type Bi₂Te₃-based materials, we have fabricated multiphase pseudobinary Bi₂Te₃-Bi₂S₃ compounds to take advantages of phonon scattering and energy filtering at interfaces, enhancing the efficiency of these materials. The energy barrier generated at the interface of the secondary phase of Bi₁₄Te₁₃S₈ in the Bi₂Te₃ matrix resulted in a higher Seebeck coefficient and consequently a higher power factor in multiphase compounds than the single-phase alloys. This effect was combined with low thermal conductivity achieved through phonon scattering at the interfaces of finely structured multiphase compounds and resulted in a relatively high thermoelectric figure of merit of ∼0.7 over the 300-550 K temperature range for the multiphase sample of n-type Bi₂Te_2.75S_0.25, double the efficiency of single-phase Bi₂Te₃. Our results inform an alternative alloy design to enhance the performance of thermoelectric materials.