There is little lattice thermal conductivity decrease. Abstract In present work, niobium is used as donor impurity in lead selenide to increase carrier concentration. Thermoelectric transport properties of n-type Pb 1.04 − x Nb x Se are investigated from room temperature to 673K. Higher Seebeck coefficient is reached by Nb-doping in lead selenide compared to other dopants. The Seebeck coefficient enhancement comes from band modification by Nb-doping, which results in the density of states effective mass increase. With the Seebeck coefficient enhancement, the dimensionless figure of merit ZT reaches ∼1.1 at 673K. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2014, Vol.600 |