High pressure synthesis and thermoelectric properties of PbSe

•Thermoelectric materials PbSe were successfully prepared by high pressure and high temperature.•The electrical properties of PbSe can be tuned effectively by high pressure and high temperature.•The thermal conductivity of PbSe was decreased largely by high pressure and high temperature.

Thermoelectric materials PbSe were successfully prepared by high pressure and high temperature technique (HPHT) and the pressure-dependent thermoelectric properties were studied from 300 to 600 K. The measurement results indicate that the electrical conduction type in PbSe can be changed from p- (<2.0 GPa) to n-type (>2.0 GPa) by application of pressure of about 2.0 GPa. And the electrical resistivity can be reduced effectively by pressure. Low thermal conductivity (~0.8 W/mK) is obtained for high pressure synthesized PbSe. These results indicate that high pressure provides a viable and controllable way of tuning the thermoelectric properties for PbSe.