Phonon and charge-carrier transport decoupling via amorphous carbon coating promotes high thermoelectric cooling performance of p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3

Key Points

• To investigate how decoupling phonon and charge-carrier transport enhances the thermoelectric performance of p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3.
• Applied amorphous carbon coatings to the material.
• Measured lattice thermal conductivities and thermoelectric figure-of-merits (zTs).
• Analyzed transport properties in relation to cooling performance.
• Amorphous carbon coating significantly reduced lattice thermal conductivities.
• It led to enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit (zT).
• Decoupling of phonon and charge-carrier transport was achieved, promoting cooling efficiency.