In this work, we report the enhanced thermoelectric performance of the Cd3P2 system achieved through alloying minor arsenic. The Cd3P2-based material (Cd3P1.8As0.2) achieves a peak zT exceeding 1.0 and an average zT of 0.59, comprehensively surpassing the performance of the pristine Cd3P2 compound. Such enhanced performance is attributed to the partial decoupling between electrical and thermal transport, where the reduced effective mass enhances carrier mobility, while As-induced defect scattering and increased lattice anharmonicity effectively suppress the lattice thermal conductivity. Theoretical analysis suggests further potential for improvement, thereby expanding the application prospects of this system.
Yan et al. (2026) studied this question.