High-temperature thermoelectric performance of heavily doped PbSe

We present a model calculation, employing first-principles calculations as well as empirical data, which suggests that properly hole-doped bulk PbSe may show a Seebeck coefficient as high as 230 μV/K, in a temperature regime in which the lattice thermal conductivity is rather small. It may therefore show a figure-of-merit ZT as high as 2 for temperatures of 1000 K. Heavily doped p-type PbSe may offer better thermoelectric performance than the sister material, optimized PbTe, for high-temperature applications such as power generation.