Enhanced thermoelectric performance via carrier energy filtering effect in β-Zn4Sb3 alloy bulk embedded with (Bi2Te3) (Sb2Te3)0.8.

In Pb-free β-Zn4Sb3 based composites incorporated with (Bi2Te3) 0.2 (Sb2Te3)0.8, we concurrently realize ~30% increase in thermoelectric power factor through an energy filtering effect caused by carrier scattering at interface barriers, and ~15% reduction in thermal conductivity due to interface scattering, allowing the figure of merit to reach 1.1 at 648K in the composite system with 1 vol. % of (Bi2Te3) 0.2 (Sb2Te3)0.8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]