Ultrahigh power factor and thermoelectric performance in hole-doped single-crystal SnSe

TLDR

Thermoelectric materials convert waste heat into electricity, yet high efficiencies are usually limited to high temperatures. The authors address this by doping SnSe with small amounts of sodium. Sodium doping increases the power factor, enabling higher energy generation while preserving efficiency, and this improvement persists over a broad temperature range. Zhao et al.

Abstract

Heat conversion gets a power boost Thermoelectric materials convert waste heat into electricity, but often achieve high conversion efficiencies only at high temperatures. Zhao et al. tackle this problem by introducing small amounts of sodium to the thermoelectric SnSe (see the Perspective by Behnia). This boosts the power factor, allowing the material to generate more energy while maintaining good conversion efficiency. The effect holds across a wide temperature range, which is attractive for developing new applications. Science , this issue p. 141 ; see also p. 124