Designed Synthesis of Families of Misfit‐Layered Compounds

The synthesis of several new families of misfit‐layered compounds is demonstrated. These compounds are crystalline along the c‐axis and in the ab‐plane, but show very short coherence lengths between ab‐planes. This disorder leads to ultra‐low and tunable thermal conductivity. Annealing isostructural samples under a chalcogen vapour until equilibrium is reached results in reproducible Seebeck and resistivity values. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)