Yb ₁₄MnSb ₁₁: New high efficiency thermoelectric material for power generation

Thermoelectric materials provide a key solution to energy problems through the conversion of heat into electrical energy. We report that the complex Zintl compound, Yb ₁₄MnSb ₁₁, breaks a 2-decade stagnation in high-temperature (>900 K), p-type materials development for thermoelectric power generation. This material achieves quadrupled efficiency and virtually doubled figure of merit over the current state-of-the-art, SiGe, thus earmarking it superior for thermoelectric applications in segmented devices. Yb ₁₄MnSb ₁₁ represents the first complex Zintl phase with substantially higher figure of merit and efficiency than any other competing materials, opening a new class of thermoelectric compounds with remarkable chemical and physical properties.