2018 年 59 巻 9 号 p. 1411-1416
This review briefly discusses the relationship between the crystal structures, electronic structures, and thermoelectric properties of materials such as pseudogap quasicrystals and related approximant crystals, narrow-gap binary intermetallic compounds, and lead chalcogenides. The approach used is to identify the materials’ intrinsic physical properties from experimental data and establish a route for tuning their properties based on theoretical models and first-principles calculations. A possible route for improving thermoelectric performance is to use a band engineering approach, such as band convergence and introducing impurity states near the valence and conduction band edges. This approach was successfully applied to TiSi2-type RuGa2 and the lead chalcogenides PbTe and PbSe.
This Paper was Originally Published in Japanese in J. Thermoelectrics Soc. Japan 14 (2018) 120–125.
