Thermoelectric materials that can directly convert heat to electrical energy offer a viable solution for reducing the usage of fossil energy by harvesting waste heat resources. Higher manganese silicide (HMS) is a naturally abundant, eco‐friendly, and low‐cost p‐type thermoelectric semiconductor with high power factor (PF); however, its figure of merit (ZT) is limited by intrinsically high thermal conductivity (κ). For effectively enhancing the thermoelectric performance of HMS and avoiding the use of expensive or toxic elements, such as Re, Te, or Pb, a green p‐type MnS with high Seebeck coefficient (S) and low κ is incorporated into the HMS matrix to form MnS/HMS composites. The incorporation of MnS leads to a 31% reduction of κ and a 10% increase of S. The ZT value increases by ≈48% from 0.40 to 0.59 at 823 K. Correspondingly, performance/price ratio is first proposed to evaluate the practical value of thermoelectric materials, which is higher than those of the vast majority of current thermoelectric materials. This study provides an overview of enhancing ZT of HMS and reducing costs, which may also be applicable to other thermoelectric materials.

中文翻译：

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将MnS掺入高硅化锰中可产生高性能/价格比的绿色热电复合材料

可以直接将热量转化为电能的热电材料为通过收集废热资源来减少化石能源的使用提供了可行的解决方案。高硅化锰（HMS）是一种天然丰富、环保、低成本的p型热电半导体，具有高功率因数（PF）；然而，其品质因数 ( ZT ) 受到本质上高热导率 (κ) 的限制。为了有效增强HMS的热电性能并避免使用昂贵或有毒的元素，如Re、Te或Pb，将具有高塞贝克系数（S）和低κ的绿色p型MnS纳入HMS基质中，以提高HMS的热电性能。形成MnS/HMS复合材料。MnS 的加入导致 κ 降低 31%，S增加 10% 。在823 K时ZT值从0.40增加到0.59约48%。相应地，首次提出性能/价格比来评估热电材料的实用价值，该值高于目前绝大多数热电材料。这项研究提供了增强 HMS 的ZT和降低成本的概述，这也可能适用于其他热电材料。