Insights into the crystal chemistry of thermoelectric sulfides, halides and sulfochlorides

Thermoelectricity offers a promising solution to address energy scarcity by enabling
the efficient conversion of waste heat into useful electricity. Continued research and
development in this field can lead to the development of more efficient and cost-effective
thermoelectric materials, which can play a significant role in addressing the global energy
challenge. The scientific challenge is here to synthesize a material in which the electrical and
thermal properties are decoupled. In short, how can we develop an electrical conductor that
conducts very little heat?
In this context, numerous studies have demonstrated the potential of sulfide materials
for thermoelectric applications over the temperature range 300 – 700 K. Although most
materials have high thermal conductivities, recent works demonstrated that extremely low
thermal conductivities could be achieved in sulfides through order/disorder phenomena,
rattling dynamics, and lattice anharmonicity.
During this presentation, recent advances in synthetic sulfide minerals, halides and
sulfochlorides, will be shown. Some peculiar structural features in connection with materials
processing, chemical bonds, lattice vibrations and atomic and nanoscale order/disorder
phenomena were carefully examined to establish rules and correlations between the crystal
structures, nano-microstructures, electronic structures, vibrational and thermoelectric
properties. [1-5]

References
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