Atomic Off-Centering Driven Phonon-Glass Electron-Crystal-like Thermoelectric Transport in Entropy-Stabilized Quinary Telluride.

Entropy engineering offers innovative design opportunities for synthesizing new thermoelectric materials by integrating conflicting physical parameters. Optimization of configurational entropy holds the potential to simultaneously reduce the thermal conductivity through inherent disorder and enhance the Seebeck coefficient by symmetrizing the crystal lattice, both of which are crucial to augmenting the thermoelectric performance of a crystalline solid. Here, we synthesized an entropy-stabilized quinary metal telluride single crystal, AgGeSnSbTe, exhibiting an intriguing phonon-glass electron-crystal (PGEC)-like thermoelectric transport.

A facile one-pot recipe for topological insulator BiSe with thermoelectric properties.

Topological materials from heavy p-block metal chalcogenides with layered structures and anisotropic bonding are of immense importance for thermoelectrics. The synthesis of such materials with simple chemical routes is of high significance. Here, we present a low-temperature, facile, one-pot, and cost-effective synthesis of topological insulator BiSe nanosheets.

Coupling-Induced Dynamic Off-Centering of Cu Drives High Thermoelectric Performance in TlCuS.

Seeking new and efficient thermoelectric materials requires a detailed comprehension of chemical bonding and structure in solids at microscopic levels, which dictates their intriguing physical and chemical properties. Herein, we investigate the influence of local structural distortion on the thermoelectric properties of TlCuS, a layered metal sulfide featuring edge-shared Cu-S tetrahedra within CuS layers. While powder X-ray diffraction suggests average crystallographic symmetry with no distortion in CuS tetrahedra, the synchrotron X-ray pair distribution function experiment exposes concealed local symmetry breaking, with dynamic off-centering distortions of the CuS tetrahedra.

Synthesis and soft crystal structure-induced broad emission of (NHCHNH)InBr·2HO.

We report a simple synthesis of a new lead-free zero-dimensional (0D) hybrid halide compound, (5P1)InBr·2HO [(5P1) = NHCHNH], which hosts isolated and distorted octahedra of [InBr(HO)], surrounded by bulky asymmetric organic cations [(5P1)] and HO molecules. The hybrid crystals exhibit broad self trapped excitonic (STE) emission due to strong anharmonic soft structure.