PbTe has been leading the advancements in the field of thermoelectricity due to its capability for demonstrating and integrating various new concepts. However, the toxicity of Pb is always a concern for terrestrial applications, which inspired great advancement to be achieved very recently in its alternative analogue SnTe. Challenges making p-type SnTe as thermoelectrically efficient as PbTe rely on a reduction of its carrier concentration, valence band offset, and lattice thermal conductivity. Utilization of newly developed concepts including both band and defect engineering amazingly increases the thermoelectric figure of merit, zT, from 0.4 up to 1.6 while remaining a nontoxic composition. The corresponding conceptual route diagram is surveyed, and future considerations on composition, crystal structure, and microstructure for further advancements are discussed in this Perspective. Concepts discussed here not only have promoted SnTe as a highly efficient environment-friendly thermoelectric material but also guided advancements in many other thermoelectrics.

中文翻译：

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环保型SnTe热电技术的进展

由于PbTe具有演示和整合各种新概念的能力，因此一直引领着热电领域的发展。然而，Pb的毒性始终是地面应用的关注点，这激发了近来替代替代品SnTe取得的巨大进步。使p型SnTe具有与PbTe一样的热电效率的挑战取决于其载流子浓度，价带偏移和晶格热导率的降低。利用最新开发的概念（包括带和缺陷工程），可以将热电性能因数zT从0.4升高到1.6，同时又保持了无毒成分。调查了相应的概念路线图，并对成分，晶体结构，在本《透视》中讨论了进一步发展的微观结构和微观结构。此处讨论的概念不仅将SnTe推广为一种高效的环境友好型热电材料，而且还指导了许多其他热电学的发展。