This work focuses on the thermoelectric properties inherent to p-type GeTe by tuning the carrier concentration. Compared with PbTe and SnTe, GeTe shows the highest Seebeck coefficient (a) and power factor (b) in the important carrier concentration range of 1–3 × 1020 cm−3. Provided all are fully optimized in carrier concentrations, GeTe shows the highest thermoelectric figure of merit, zT at all temperatures (c). This originates from its highest degeneracy of the first valence band (along Σ line) in the low temperature phase, and the smallest effective masses for both L and Σ bands in the high temperature phase (d).
- Juan Li
- Zhiwei Chen
- Yanzhong Pei
