Defect-tolerant electron and defect-sensitive phonon transport in quasi-2D conjugated coordination polymers
Abstract Thermoelectric materials, enabling direct waste-heat to electricity conversion, need to be highly electrically conducting while simultaneously thermally insulating. This is fundamentally challenging since electrical and thermal conduction usually change in tandem. In quasi-two-dimensional c...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61920-w |
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| Summary: | Abstract Thermoelectric materials, enabling direct waste-heat to electricity conversion, need to be highly electrically conducting while simultaneously thermally insulating. This is fundamentally challenging since electrical and thermal conduction usually change in tandem. In quasi-two-dimensional conjugated coordination polymer films we discover an advantageous thermoelectric transport regime, in which charge transport is defect-tolerant but heat propagation is defect-sensitive; it imparts the ideal mix of antithetical properties—temperature-activated, exceptionally low lattice thermal conductivities of 0.2 W m−1 K−1 below Kittel’s limit originating from small-amplitude, quasi-harmonic lattice dynamics with disorder-limited lifetimes and vibrational scattering length on the order of interatomic spacing, and high electrical conductivities up to 2000 S cm−1 with metallic temperature dependence, notably in poorly crystalline structures with paracrystallinity >10%. These materials offer attractive properties, such as ease of processing and defect tolerance, for applications, that require fast charge, but slow heat transport. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |