Band engineering and rational design of high-performance thermoelectric materials by first-principles

Understanding and manipulation of the band structure are important in designing high-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials. Our recent work has involved the utilization of band structure in various topics of TE research, i.e., the band convergence, the conductive network, dimensionality reduction by quantum effects, and high throughput material screening. In non-cubic chalcopyrite compounds, we revealed the relations between structural factors and band degeneracy, and a simple unity-η rule was proposed for selecting high performance diamond-like TE materials. Based on the deep understanding of the electrical and thermal transport, we identified the conductive network in filled skutterudites with the “phonon glass-electron crystal” (PGEC) paradigm, and extended this concept to caged-free Cu-based diamond-like compounds. By combining the band structure calculations and the Boltzmann transport theory, we conducted a high-throughput material screening in half-Heusler (HH) systems, and several promising compositions with high power factors were proposed out of a large composition collection. At last, we introduced the Rashba spin-splitting effect into thermoelectrics, and its influence on the electrical transport properties was discussed. This review demonstrated the importance of the microscopic perspectives for the optimization and design of novel TE materials.