Thermoelectric technology can generate electricity from waste heat, although their performance can result in a bottleneck for wider applications. Materials scientists can regulate the configurational entropy of a material by introducing different atomic species to tune phase composition and extend the performance optimization space. In a new report now on Science, Binbin Jang et al. used an n-type lead selenide (PbSe)-based high-entropy material formed by entropy-driven structural stabilization. The largely distorted lattices in the high-entropy system caused unusual shear strains to provide strong phonon scattering to lower lattice thermal conductivity. The work presents a new paradigm to improve thermoelectric performance for high-entropy thermoelectric materials using entropy engineering.
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Source: Phys.org