Multifold enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in p-type BaBiTe3 by pressure tuning

As in the combinatorial approach to materials discovery, pressure tuning al lows the phase space of interaction parameters that determine materials' pr operties to be explored more rapidly than by traditional means. Both the th ermoelectric power and electrical conductivity of BaBiTe3 are found to incr ease upon compression. As a result there is a dramatic increase in the dime nsionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT from similar to0.1 to similar t o0.8. We suggest a mechanism for the enhancement involving an electronic to pological transition. Such transitions can be induced both by means of pres sure tuning and alloying, offering a potential route to reproducing the pre ssure induced improved behavior reported here by chemical means. (C) 2001 A merican Institute of Physics.