Thermoelectric materials are able to realize the direct energy conversion between heat and electricity and have great potential in power generation and Peltier cooling. SnTe, an old but intriguing mid-temperature thermoelectric material, has attracted much attention in the past half-decade because of its non-toxic chemical elements as well as distinctive two-valence-bands (L and Σ bands) electronic structure. However, pristine SnTe shows inferior thermoelectric performance largely due to its intrinsically large population of holes as charge carriers, big energy difference between L and Σ bands and high lattice thermal conductivity. In recent years, numerous efforts have been carried out to optimize the transport coefficients of SnTe, endowing the peak thermoelectric figure of merit ZT above 1.8. In this review, the fundamental properties of SnTe are first outlined, and the optimization strategies are subsequently summarized for both electronic and phonon transport. Finally, future possible directions to further enhance the thermoelectric performance of SnTe are put forward at the end of this article. We believe that this review will spark people’s inspiration in exploring other IV-VI thermoelectric compounds.

热电材料能够实现热电之间的直接能量转换，并且在发电和珀耳帖制冷方面具有巨大的潜力。SnTe是一种古老而有趣的中温热电材料，由于其无毒的化学元素以及独特的两个价带（L和Σ能带）电子结构，在过去的五年中引起了人们的广泛关注。然而，原始的SnTe表现出较差的热电性能，这主要是由于其本质上具有大量的空穴作为电荷载流子，L和Σ谱带之间的能量差大以及晶格热导率高。近年来，为使SnTe的传输系数最优化，人们做出了许多努力，从而赋予了峰值热电品质因数ZT高于1.8。在这篇综述中，首先概述了SnTe的基本特性，然后总结了电子和声子传输的优化策略。最后，本文最后提出了进一步提高SnTe热电性能的未来可能方向。我们相信，这篇评论将激发人们探索其他IV-VI热电化合物的灵感。