Weak Polar Optical Phonon Scattering Decouples Electron and Phonon Transport in Layered Thermoelectric Materials

TL;DR

This study uses high-throughput calculations to identify layered thermoelectric materials with decoupled electron and phonon transport, focusing on weak polar optical phonon scattering to enhance performance.

Contribution

It introduces a strategy to mitigate POP scattering in layered materials, enabling high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity simultaneously.

Findings

Identified 23 layered semiconductors with high cross-plane mobility.

GaGe₂Te exhibits high electrical conductivity and ultralow thermal conductivity.

Weak interlayer bonding and phonon anharmonicity contribute to low thermal conductivity.

Abstract

High-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials are crucial for efficient waste-heat recovery and solid-state cooling technologies. A persistent challenge in TE materials design arises from the strong interdependence among the electrical conductivity ($\sigma$), Seebeck coefficient ($S$), and lattice thermal conductivity ($\kappa_{\mathrm{L}}$). Layered compounds can effectively suppress $\kappa_{\mathrm{L}}$ along the cross-plane direction owing to weak interlayer interactions; however, they often suffer from low carrier mobility ($\mu$) caused by limited band dispersion and strong polar optical phonon (POP) scattering. Here, we perform high-throughput density functional theory calculations to screen 236 layered semiconductors and identify candidates with low effective mass ($m^{*}$) and weak POP scattering. We identify 23 compounds with high cross-plane $\mu$, among which 14 exhibit large power factors ($S^{2}\sigma$). Notably, GaGe$_{2}$Te stands out with exceptionally high cross-plane $\sigma$ and power factor, enabled by a favorable combination of small $m^{*}$ and a small ionic dielectric constant. Simultaneously, GaGe$_{2}$Te exhibits an ultralow cross-plane $\kappa_{\mathrm{L}}$ of 0.57~W~m$^{-1}$~K$^{-1}$ at 300~K, originating from weak interlayer bonding and pronounced phonon anharmonicity. These results demonstrate an effective strategy to decouple electron and phonon transport in layered materials by mitigating POP scattering, thereby providing a promising pathway toward high-performance thermoelectric materials.