Improved thermoelectric performance of p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 through Mn doping at elevated temperature

A tiny amount of Mn could sharply increase the carrier concentration without changing the electronic band structure, consequently leading to delay the appearance of intrinsic excitation and improve PF values in the whole temperature range. Meanwhile, the lattice and bipolar thermal conductivity are both greatly reduced. Therefore, a very high ZT of ∼1.3 at 430 K and it's ZTave of 1.1 between 303 and 573 K are achieved, which is vital to push the application of the Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric materials at elevated temperature.