Ultralow chromium doping enables all-PbSe thermoelectric cooling

作者：Shibo Liu, Yu Tian, Yi Wen, Shulin Bai, Bingchao Qin, H. L. Shi, Lizhong Su, Xiaokun Feng, Rong Liu, Dezheng Gao, Jie Yang, Yixuan Hu, Tian Gao, Dongrui Liu, Yuxia Li, Yumo Zhu, Shaowei Han, Linlong Xing, S Wang, Xiang Gao, Y P Chen, Yongxin Qin, Li-Dong Zhao · 发表于：Science · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1126/science.aeg8963 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices、Thermal Expansion and Ionic Conductivity、Perovskite Materials and Applications

Thermoelectric cooling is pivotal for solid-state thermal management, yet large-scale deployment is hindered by the scarcity and cost of tellurium in commercial bismuth telluride devices. We developed a tellurium-free thermoelectric cooler based on all lead selenide (PbSe), in which an ultralow-dopant chromium (Cr) grid allows the engineering of defects and donors to optimize carrier transport to match the performance of the n-type and p-type legs. We fabricated high-performance n-type (PbSe + 0.005Cr) and p-type (PbSe + 0.001Cr) crystals with synergistically matched properties. The device exhibits exceptional performance with lower power consumption and higher cooling capacity, achieving a cooling density of approximately 6 watts per square centimeter, a peak coefficient of performance of approximately 21, and a maximum temperature difference of approximately 53 kelvin at a 363-kelvin hot-side temperature. These findings establish PbSe as a highly effective, sustainable alternative for large-scale cooling applications.