LAUSR

A tiny amount of Mn is doped In0.15Sb1.85Te3 sample to tailor its carrier concentration, thus boosting the power factor and suppressing the bipolar effect. Furthermore, large amounts of nano-twins are constructed to effectively scatter the phonons and reduce the lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, the zT value of Mn0.02In0.15Sb1.83Te3 is enhanced up to 1.0 at 673 K, making this material a robust candidate for medium temperature (500~673 K) thermoelectric applications. Then, combining with the low-temperature thermoelectric material Mn0.0075Bi0.5Sb1.4925Te3 previously reported by our group and using Nickel as barrier layers, a high average zT value of 1.08 during a broad temperature range from 303 to 673 K, together with an Ohmic contact interface bonding, is achieved in the p-type segmented leg fabricated via simple one-step sintering. Finally, the maximum theoretical conversion efficiency with a temperature difference of 370 K reaches ~12.7%.