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Intercalation: Building a Natural Superlattice for Better Thermoelectric Performance in Layered Chalcogenides

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Abstract

A natural superlattice with composition (SnS)1.2(TiS2)2, built by intercalating a SnS layer into the van der Waals gap of layered TiS2, has been directly observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The thermoelectric performance is improved in the direction parallel to the layers because the electron mobility is maintained while simultaneously suppressing phonon transport, which is attributed to softening of the transverse sound velocities due to weakened interlayer bonding. In the direction perpendicular to the layers, the lattice thermal conductivity of (SnS)1.2(TiS2)2 is even lower than the predicted minimum thermal conductivity, which may be caused by phonon localization due to the translational disorder of the SnS layers parallel to the layers. Moreover, we propose a large family of misfit-layer compounds (MX)1+x (TX2) n (M = Pb, Bi, Sn, Sb, rare-earth elements; T = Ti, V, Cr, Nb, Ta; X = S, Se; n = 1, 2, 3) with a natural superlattice structure as possible candidate high-performance thermoelectric materials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Chunlei Wan, Yifeng Wang, Ning Wang & Kunihito Koumoto

  2. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan

    Chunlei Wan, Yifeng Wang, Wataru Norimatsu, Michiko Kusunoki & Kunihito Koumoto

  3. EcoTopia Science Institute, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Wataru Norimatsu & Michiko Kusunoki

Authors
  1. Chunlei Wan
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  2. Yifeng Wang
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  3. Ning Wang
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  4. Wataru Norimatsu
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  5. Michiko Kusunoki
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  6. Kunihito Koumoto
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Correspondence to Kunihito Koumoto.

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Wan, C., Wang, Y., Wang, N. et al. Intercalation: Building a Natural Superlattice for Better Thermoelectric Performance in Layered Chalcogenides. J. Electron. Mater. 40, 1271–1280 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-011-1565-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-011-1565-5

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