High thermoelectric properties in polycrystalline SnSe materials realized by rare earth halide Co-doping

SnSe materials have garnered significant interest due to the intrinsic low thermal conductivity. However, its limited electrical conductivity hinders their practical implementation. This study achieved a high ZT value of 1.40 at 773 K in the samples of n-type polycrystalline SnSe0.95 + x wt% SmCl3 + y wt% ErCl3 (x = 0, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, and 1.5; y = 0, 0.0675, 0.125, and 0.25) since (SmCl3, ErCl3) co-doping decoupled the electrical-thermal transport properties. First, the released electron carrier concentration due to SmCl3 doping enhanced the electrical transport properties. The SnSe0.95 + 1.25 wt% SmCl3 sample exhibited a high power factor of 563 μWm−1K−2 at 773 K. Then, the lattice thermal conductivity markedly decreased with further ErCl3 doping due to the high-density dislocations and coherent boundary, resulting in effective the phonon scattering. Additionally, the special microtopography was conducive to the decreased lattice thermal conductivity. Therefore, the SnSe0.95 + 1.25 wt% SmCl3 + 0.125 wt% ErCl3 sample achieved a low lattice thermal conductivity value of 0.28 Wm−1K−1 at 773 K. Simultaneously, the (SmCl3, ErCl3) co-doped samples maintained the electrical transport properties than the SmCl3-doped samples. Consequently, the SnSe0.95 + 1.25 wt% SmCl3 + 0.125 wt% ErCl3 sample obtained a peak ZT value of 1.40 at 773 K and a competitive average ZT value of 0.37 from 323 to 773 K, and a theoretically calculated conversion efficiency reached 7.2%, which can be applied in the deep space for power generation. This strategy can be utilized to optimize the thermoelectric performance of other thermoelectrical material systems.