Synergistic optimization of carrier transport and thermal conductivity in Sn-doped Cu2Te

Doping Sn into the Cu₂Te lattice can synergistically enhance the power factor and decrease thermal conductivity, leading to remarkably optimized zTs. The lone pair electrons from the 5s orbital of Sn can increase the DOS near the Fermi level of Cu₂Te to promote PF and reduce κ_e by decreasing the carrier concentration. This study explores a scalable strategy to optimize the thermoelectric performance for intrinsically highly degenerate semiconductors.