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THERMOELECTRICS

Thermoelectrics with a twist

Nature Materials volume 18, pages 1267–1268 (2019)Cite this article

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Inducing a topological phase transition by applying pressure is shown to be a successful strategy for improving the performance of thermoelectric materials.

Thermoelectrics convert heat into electricity by enabling electron flow across a temperature gradient, but internal electrical resistance from Joule heating is a key limiting factor to conversion efficiency. In the pursuit of material platforms for the next generation of thermoelectrics, topological materials1 with high electron mobility, including topological insulators and topological semimetals, have attracted substantial attention. Topological insulators support protected current-carrying electron states that are robust to perturbations, reducing electrical resistance. Topological semimetals have conduction and valence band crossings that render electrons massless for easy flow. In recent years, topology has been exploited for potential use in high-performance electronics and quantum computing, but the question arises: can topology also be harnessed for more efficient thermoelectrics? Writing in Nature Materials, Liu-Cheng Chen and co-workers2 demonstrate that electronic topology can indeed be used to enhance thermoelectric performance. Their work is made possible by using high pressure to induce topological semimetal states in a lead chalcogenide.

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Fig. 1: Topological phase transition in Pb(Te, Se)–Sn(Te, Se).

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  1. Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA

    Qiang Li

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  1. Qiang Li
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Correspondence to Qiang Li.

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Li, Q. Thermoelectrics with a twist. Nat. Mater. 18, 1267–1268 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0523-0

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