| Citation: |
Xiaojun Li, Wenke He, Li-Dong Zhao. Point defect engineering advances thermoelectric SnS crystals[J]. Materials Lab, 2025, 4(1): 240010. doi: 10.54227/mlab.20240010
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Point defect engineering advances thermoelectric SnS crystals
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Abstract
The pursuit of low-cost, high-performance thermoelectric materials is a fundamental challenge in thermoelectric research and its applications, as it can realize the direct thermal to electrical energy conversion. In the past decade, with the emergence of the hot-spot SnSe thermoelectric material, the homologous SnS has gradually gained wide attention as its lower cost and higher abundance of S. However, the highly electronegative (ionic) nature of S and the large bandgap (~ 1.2 eV) in SnS cause inherently poor electrical transport. Additionally, grain boundary in the polycrystals brings about complex defects and which further deteriorates the performance. The behavior of defects in polycrystalline SnS is difficult to clarify and modulate, but higher carrier mobility and the only point defects are considered in the crystals where factors with less influence make the identification and optimization of the transport mechanism easier. Based on it, this article proposes the improvement strategy of thermoelectric performance in SnS crystals enabled by the point defect engineering.
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Keywords:
- SnS crystals /
- Point defect engineering
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Author Biographies
Xiaojun Li received his master’s degree from Shaanxi Normal University, China, in 2023. He is now a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. His research focuses on the thermoelectric properties of SnS crystals. 
Wenke He is currently a research fellow at the Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. He received his BE degree from China Three Gorges University in 2016 and PhD degree from Beihang University in 2021. His main research interests focus on the crystal growth and performance optimization of thermoelectric materials with layered structures. 
Li-Dong Zhao is currently a full professor of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Beihang University, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, China in 2009. He was a postdoctoral research associate at the Université Paris-Sud and Northwestern University from 2009 to 2014. His research interests include electrical and thermal transport behaviors in the compounds with layered structures. He has authored over 270 peer-reviewed publications in international journals with an h-index of 87. Professor Zhao has been identified as Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate (2019-2024). -
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Xiaojun Li, Wenke He, Li-Dong Zhao. Point defect engineering advances thermoelectric SnS crystals[J]. Materials Lab, 2025, 4(1): 240010. doi: 10.54227/mlab.20240010
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Figure 1.
Point defect engineering in SnS crystals.
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Figure 2.
Electrical transport properties for undoped, Li and Na doped SnS crystals. a Electrical conductivity, inset shows Seebeck coefficients of group IV-VI thermoelectric compounds at a carrier concentration of ~ 3 × 1019 cm−3.[37–39] b Power factor.[28]
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Figure 3.
Electrical transport properties in SnS1-xSex (x = 0-9%) crystals. a The ratio of quality factor (β/β0). b Weighted mobility and power factor.[22]
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Figure 4.
Thermal transport properties for SnS-based crystals. a Lattice thermal conductivities with fitted Callaway model at room temperature, inset shows the temperature dependent lattice thermal conductivity. b ZT and ZTave values.[22]
