Intrinsic partial occupation of Cu induces strong phonon scattering for an extremely low lattice thermal conductivity in TmCuTe₂, which leads this material to be a promising candidate for thermoelectric applications. This work focus on the electronic and phononic transport properties of TmCuTe₂ with Ag-alloying on the Cu site. Such a Ag/Cu substitution is found to enable a decrease in Hall carrier concentration from 14 × 10¹⁹ to 8 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ for an evaluation of the charge transport based on a single parabolic band (SPB) model with acoustic scattering. In addition, Ag-substitution simultaneously introduces Cu/Ag point defects for extra phonon scattering, leading the lattice thermal conductivity to be as low as ∼0.25 W/m-K in a broad temperature. The optimization in carrier concentration and the reduction in lattice thermal conductivity contribute to a ∼40% improvement in average thermoelectric figure of merit (zT). The determination of band parameters enables a guidance for further advancements in this promising thermoelectric material.

Cu的本征部分会引起强声子散射，从而使TmCuTe _2中的晶格导热率极低，这导致该材料成为热电应用的有希望的候选者。这项工作的重点是在Cu部位采用Ag合金化的TmCuTe ₂的电子和声子输运性质。发现这种Ag / Cu取代能够使霍尔载流子浓度从14×10 ^19降低至8×10 ¹⁹  cm ^-3。用于基于带有声散射的单抛物线带（SPB）模型的电荷传输评估。另外，Ag替代同时引入Cu / Ag点缺陷以引起额外的声子散射，从而导致在较宽的温度下晶格热导率低至约0.25 W / mK。载流子浓度的优化和晶格热导率的降低有助于将平均热电品质因数（zT）提高约40％。带参数的确定为该有前途的热电材料的进一步发展提供了指导。