High-performance Sb₂Si₂Te₆ thermoelectric device

High-performance thermoelectric (TE) devices are promising for waste-heat recovery and power generation. Recently, Sb₂Si₂Te₆ has been demonstrated as a promising p-type TE material with high performance and low cost. However, Sb₂Si₂Te₆-based TE devices have not yet been fabricated. The performance of TE devices depends on not only TE materials, but also electrode materials and inner interfaces. Herein, we utilize the high throughput strategy to screen the appropriate electrode material and find that cobalt exhibits a low contact resistance (2.47 μΩ cm⁻²) and a high shear strength (18.03 MPa). Furthermore, we successfully fabricate one eight-couple Sb₂Si_1.99Ge_0.01Te₆ (p-type)/Yb_0.3Co₄Sb₁₂ (n-type) TE module with optimized geometric parameters by the finite element method. The module exhibits a high output power density (0.92 W cm⁻²) and a decent energy conversion efficiency (4.2%) under a temperature difference of 500 K. Our studies will promote further development of Sb₂Si₂Te₆ materials and Sb₂Si₂Te₆-based devices.