Phonon Dispersions and Relaxation Times in AgSbTe$_2$ and PbTe
ORAL
Abstract
The thermoelectric material AgSbTe$_{2}$ had attracted much interest due to its high thermoelectric figure-of-merit, and its anomalously low thermal conductivity for a nominally simple rock-salt structure, which is glass-like even in bulk single-crystals. We present results of systematic neutron scattering investigations of the phonon density-of-states, dispersions, and relaxation times in AgSbTe$_{2}$, and contrast these with PbTe. A detailed account of the thermal conductivity is obtained in terms of microscopic phonon mean-free-paths, providing good agreement with bulk transport measurements.
*Funding from the US DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering Division, and from the S3TEC Energy Frontier Research Center, DOE DE-SC0001299.
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