Partial capture and effective modulation of the high-pressure thermoelectric properties of PbSe via high pressure synthesis

This study investigated the relationship of synthesis pressure and corresponding thermoelectric parameters of PbSe. These thermoelectric parameters include the energy gap (E-g), resistivity (R), and the Seebeck coefficient (S). The variation tendency of these parameters with synthesis pressure is similar to the in-situ measurement results of the measurement pressure dependence of E-g, R, and S. Moreover, high-pressure synthesis achieved the best power factor with sample synthesized at 1.5 GPa synthesis pressure. With regard to the high pressure in-situ measurement of PbSe, there is a possible best measurement pressure interval. The 1.5 GPa (synthesis pressure) here is consistent with the "best pressure interval". These results indicate that high-temperature and high-pressure synthesis is able to capture partial high pressure features of PbSe to the ambient pressure. Despite several innovative properties of PbSe in the high-pressure environment, it does not have direct applied value for the ambient pressure state. However, the high-pressure synthesis, perhaps, could provide an alternative way. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.