Yb14MnSb11:  New High Efficiency Thermoelectric Material for Power Generation

Thermoelectric materials provide a key solution to energy problems through the conversion of heat into electrical energy. We report that the complex Zintl compound, Yb14MnSb11, breaks a 2-decade stagnation in high-temperature (>900 K), p-type materials development for thermoelectric power generation. This material achieves quadrupled efficiency and virtually doubled figure of merit over the current state-of-the-art, SiGe, thus earmarking it superior for thermoelectric applications in segmented devices. Yb14MnSb11 represents the first complex Zintl phase with substantially higher figure of merit and efficiency than any other competing materials, opening a new class of thermoelectric compounds with remarkable chemical and physical properties.