Zn₄Sb₃: A High-Performance Thermoelectric Material

Zn4Sb3 has been identified as a high-performance thermoelectric material. In p-type, Zn4Sb3 samples have exhibited the greatest dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ever observed for a p-type material at temperatures from 200 to 350 °C. In this respect, Zn4Sb3 fills a gap in the thermoelectric-performance spectrum between the state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials like (a) p-type Bi2Te3-based alloys, which exhibit their greatest figures of merit at lower temperatures and (b) p-type Te/Ag/Ge/Sb ("TAGS") alloys and p-type PbTe-based alloys, which exhibit their greatest figures of merit at higher temperatures. Thus, Zn4Sb3 offers an important thermoelectric-performance advantage for generating electrical energy from heat sources in the temperature range from 200 to 350 °C. Zn4Sb3 also costs less than do the state-of-the-art lower- and higher-temperature alloys.