Efficient power generation near room temperature in earth-abundant thermoelectric tin sulfide

Efficient power generation near room temperature in earth-abundant thermoelectric tin sulfide | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Efficient power generation near room temperature in earth-abundant thermoelectric tin sulfide Kuei Chen, Muhammad Fakhri, Abhishek Ghosh, Wei Lai, Duc Nguyen, and 19 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8538397/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The inefficient carrier transport of earth-abundant tin sulfide (SnS), arising from its intrinsically low crystal symmetry, limits its thermoelectric performance at low temperatures. Here, the substitutional Ag + doping modified the Na-doped SnS crystal structure by reinforcing lattice dynamical anisotropy and enhancing in-plane transport properties. Concurrently, the reconstructed valence-band structure evolved into a modulated multiband configuration, increasing the density-of-states effective mass while preserving high carrier mobility. The resulting highly metallic conductivity combined with high thermopower yields an ultrahigh room-temperature power factor of ~ 101 µW cm - 1 K - 2 in Sn 0.96 Na 0.01 Ag 0.03 S single crystals. Coupled with the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of SnS, the optimized crystal achieved the figure of merit ( zT ) of ~ 1.06 at 300 K and ~ 2.0 at 573 K, delivering a conversion efficiency of ~ 3.3% and an output power density of ~ 0.31 W cm - 2 in a single-leg module under a 243 K temperature gradient. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of multiband engineering in SnS and establish it as a highly promising low-cost thermoelectric material for near-room-temperature energy conversion. Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Thermoelectrics Physical sciences/Materials science/Nanoscale materials/Structural properties Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformationv1.docx Supplementary information for main text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8538397","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":571666130,"identity":"0cd52c25-8df2-4a13-ab5a-5d05ec48cc1b","order_by":0,"name":"Kuei 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sulfide","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8538397/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8538397/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe inefficient carrier transport of earth-abundant tin sulfide (SnS), arising from its intrinsically low crystal symmetry, limits its thermoelectric performance at low temperatures. Here, the substitutional Ag\u003csup\u003e+\u003c/sup\u003e doping modified the Na-doped SnS crystal structure by reinforcing lattice dynamical anisotropy and enhancing in-plane transport properties. Concurrently, the reconstructed valence-band structure evolved into a modulated multiband configuration, increasing the density-of-states effective mass while preserving high carrier mobility. The resulting highly metallic conductivity combined with high thermopower yields an ultrahigh room-temperature power factor of ~\u0026thinsp;101 \u0026micro;W cm\u003csup\u003e-\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003eK\u003csup\u003e-\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e in Sn\u003csub\u003e0.96\u003c/sub\u003eNa\u003csub\u003e0.01\u003c/sub\u003eAg\u003csub\u003e0.03\u003c/sub\u003eS single crystals. Coupled with the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of SnS, the optimized crystal achieved the figure of merit (\u003cem\u003ezT\u003c/em\u003e) of ~\u0026thinsp;1.06 at 300 K and ~\u0026thinsp;2.0 at 573 K, delivering a conversion efficiency of ~\u0026thinsp;3.3% and an output power density of ~\u0026thinsp;0.31 W cm\u003csup\u003e-\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e in a single-leg module under a 243 K temperature gradient. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of multiband engineering in SnS and establish it as a highly promising low-cost thermoelectric material for near-room-temperature energy conversion.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Efficient power generation near room temperature in earth-abundant thermoelectric tin sulfide","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-29 07:20:07","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8538397/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"46937172-98a2-4624-8a05-3bc4e54b3c3c","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 29th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":60836484,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Thermoelectrics"},{"id":60836485,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Nanoscale materials/Structural properties"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-29T07:20:07+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-29 07:20:07","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8538397","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8538397","identity":"rs-8538397","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}