Texture Engineering to Boost the Thermoelectric Properties

Around 60% of useful energy is wasted in industry, homes, or transportation. Therefore, there has been increasing attention on thermoelectric materials for their ability to harvest waste heat into useful energy. The efficiency of a thermoelectric material depends on its electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity in a conflicting manner which results in efficiency optimization challenges. Single crystals and polycrystalline layered materials have comparatively better thermoelectric and mechanical properties in a certain direction. Texture engineering is a special strategy that allows the exploitation of superior material properties in a specific direction. Texturing could be achieved by various sintering and deformation methods, which yield defects improving thermoelectric and mechanical properties. The results show that for (Bi,Sb) 2 Te 3 , Bi 2 (Se,Te) 3 , CuSbSe 2 , and SnSe, significant enhancement in the thermoelectric figure of merit is achieved by enhancing the preferred orientation. Texture engineering provides a wide range of strategies to elevate the zT of anisotropic materials to values comparable to those of their single crystalline counterparts.