Lee, Seunghyeok Park, Gwang Min Kim, Younghoon Lee, So-Hyeon Jung, Sung-Jin Hong, Junpyo Kim, Sung-Chul Won, Sung Ok Lee, Albert S. Chung, Yoon Jang Kim, Ju-Young Kim, Heesuk Baek, Seung-Hyub Kim, Jin-Sang Park, Tae Joo Kim, Seong Keun 2024-04-18T05:30:08Z 2024-04-18T05:30:08Z 2024-04-18 2024-04 1944-8244 https://pubs.kist.re.kr/handle/201004/149661 Porous thermoelectric materials offer exciting prospects for improving the thermoelectric performance by significantly reducing the thermal conductivity. Nevertheless, porous structures are affected by issues, including restricted enhancements in performance attributed to decreased electronic conductivity and degraded mechanical strength. This study introduces an innovative strategy for overcoming these challenges using porous Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 (BST) by combining porous structuring and interface engineering via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Porous BST powder was produced by selectively dissolving KCl in a milled mixture of BST and KCl; the interfaces were engineered by coating ZnO films through ALD. This novel architecture remarkably reduced the thermal conductivity owing to the presence of several nanopores and ZnO/BST heterointerfaces, promoting efficient phonon scattering. Additionally, the ZnO coating mitigated the high resistivity associated with the porous structure, resulting in an improved power factor. Consequently, the ZnO-coated porous BST demonstrated a remarkable enhancement in thermoelectric efficiency, with a maximum zT of approximately 1.53 in the temperature range of 333-353 K, and a zT of 1.44 at 298 K. Furthermore, this approach plays a significant role in enhancing the mechanical strength, effectively mitigating a critical limitation of porous structures. These findings open new avenues for the development of advanced porous thermoelectric materials and highlight their potential for precise interface engineering through the ALD. English American Chemical Society Unlocking the Potential of Porous Bi2Te3-Based Thermoelectrics Using Precise Interface Engineering through Atomic Layer Deposition Article 10.1021/acsami.4c01946 1 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, v.16, no.14, pp.17683 - 17691 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 16 14 17683 17691 N scie scopus 001191197000001 2-s2.0-85189099217 Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Science & Technology - Other Topics Materials Science Article NANOSTRUCTURED THERMOELECTRICS THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY PERFORMANCE BISMUTH ALLOYS ENHANCEMENT FIGURE MERIT ALD Bi2Te3 thermoelectric porous materials atomic layer deposition ZnO