Band engineering and precipitation enhance thermoelectric performance of SnTe with Zn-doping

Chen Zhiyu¹, Wang Ruifeng^{2, 3}, Wang Guoyu^{2, 3}, Zhou Xiaoyuan⁴, Wang Zhengshang¹, Yin Cong¹, Hu Qing¹, Zhou Binqiang⁵, Tang Jun^{1, 6, ‡}, Ang Ran^{1, 6, †}

(color online) (a) Powder XRD patterns for Sn_1−xZn_xTe (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04) at room temperature. Inset: Crystal structure of SnTe. (b) Powder XRD pattern with Rietveld refinement for the sample with x=0.02. (c) Lattice parameter a as a function of Zn content x. The solid line represents Vegardʼs law. (d) SEM image for the sample with x=0.04. (e) Magnified SEM image within the white square area in panels (d). (f) The corresponding EDS results for spot 1 and spot 2 in image (e), respectively.