title: Microstructure and a nucleation mechanism for nanoprecipitates in PbTe-AgSbTe2.
abstract: Many recent advances in thermoelectric (TE) materials are attributed to their nanoscale constituents. Determination of the nanocomposite structures has represented a major experimental and computational challenge and eluded previous attempts. Here we present the first atomically resolved structures of high performance TE material PbTe-AgSbTe2 by transmission electron microscopy imaging and density functional theory calculations. The results establish an accurate structural characterization for PbTe-AgSbTe2 and identify the interplay of electric dipolar interactions and strain fields as the driving mechanism for nanoprecipitate nucleation and aggregation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and High Pressure Science and Engineering Center, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154, USA. xzke@phy.ecnu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xuezhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.forename: Changfeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jihui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yimei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: P R C
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Kent