Crystal growth and thermoelectric properties of semiconducting alloys
Phys. Rev. B 113, 085206 – Published 11 February, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/75dk-hvgt
Abstract
By using the zone-melting method, we have grown a series of narrow-gap, semiconducting single-crystalline alloys () with centimeter-scale single grains of uniform composition, and systematically investigated their thermoelectric properties. Due to the combination of a significant Seebeck coefficient and reduced thermal conductivity, the in-plane thermoelectric figure of merit achieved approximately 0.35 at 150 K. This value shows minimal variation—less than 30%—across the entire composition range. Furthermore, the value of the single-crystalline alloy reaches an outstanding 0.48 at 100 K when both electric current and heat flow are aligned with the direction of the axis. We establish a universal scaling relation between the energy gap and the temperature-dependent Seebeck coefficient for the entire series of alloys within their intrinsic semiconducting temperature range. This scaling relation indicates that the large Seebeck coefficient arises from the pronounced asymmetry in the conductivity and effective masses of the electron and hole bands.