Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance of PbTe Nanocomposites with Sb Nanoinclusions

In the present work, the thermoelectric properties of PbTe embedded with spherical Sb nanoscale inclusions were calculated in detail, following the idea that energy-selective carrier scattering can effectively increase the Seebeck coefficient. The quantitative relationships between such nanostructures in PbTe and thermoelectric properties indicated that interface potential barrier induced by Sb nanoinclusions results in a significant enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient, especially when around room temperature. Furthermore, the optimal parameters for boosting the thermoelectric performance of PbTe were found to be 4 nm-radius Sb nanoinclusions with high concentration.