Leveraging bipolar effect to enhance transverse thermoelectricity in semimetal Mg₂Pb for cryogenic heat pumping.

ABSTRACT: Toward high-performance thermoelectric energy conversion, the electrons and holes must work jointly like two wheels of a cart: if not longitudinally, then transversely. The bipolar effect - the main performance restriction in the traditional longitudinal thermoelectricity, can be manipulated to be a performance enhancer in the transverse thermoelectricity. Here, we demonstrate this idea in semimetal Mg₂Pb. At 30 K, a giant transverse thermoelectric power factor as high as 400 μWcm^-1K^-2 is achieved, a 3 orders-of-magnitude enhancement than the longitudinal configuration. The resultant specific heat pumping power is ~ 1 Wg^-1, higher than those of existing techniques at 10~100 K. A large number of semimetals and narrow-gap semiconductors making poor

SUBMITTER: Chen Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8219662 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature