@article{33315,
  author = {Juan Li and Xinyue Zhang and Zhiwei Chen and Siqi Lin and Wen Li and Jiahong Shen and Ian T Witting and Alireza Faghaninia and Yue Chen and Anubhav Jain and Lidong Chen and G. G Jeffrey Snyder and Yanzhong Pei},
  title = {Low-Symmetry Rhombohedral GeTe Thermoelectrics},
  abstract = {<p><span>Thermoelectric materials enable a heat flow to be directly converted to a flow of charge carriers for generating electricity. The crystal structure symmetry is one of the most fundamental parameters determining the properties of a crystalline material including thermoelectrics. The common belief currently held is that high-symmetry materials are usually good for thermoelectrics, leading to great efforts having historically been focused on GeTe alloys in a high-symmetry cubic structure. Here we show a slight reduction of crystal structure symmetry of GeTe alloys from cubic to rhombohedral, enabling a rearrangement in electronic bands for more transporting channels of charge carriers and many imperfections for more blocking centers of heat-energy carriers (phonons). This leads to the discovery of rhombohedral GeTe alloys as the most efficient thermoelectric materials to date, opening new possibilities for low-symmetry thermoelectric materials.</span></p>},
  year = {2018},
  journal = {Joule},
  volume = {2},
  pages = {976 - 987},
  month = {05/2018},
  issn = {25424351},
  doi = {10.1016/j.joule.2018.02.016},
  language = {eng},
}