Inorganic thermoelectrics have progressed in leaps and bounds in the recent years. This is largely driven by the advancements in both physical understanding coupled with structural properties. In particular, p-type AgSbTe₂ has recently emerged as one of the best thermoelectric materials for low and medium temperature applications. Nevertheless, it suffers from longstanding stability and inconsistency problems, which results in n-type Ag₂Te precipitates and drastic deterioration in performance. In this work, we trace the origin of the variability of thermoelectric properties of AgSbTe₂ found in literatures to the cooling rate during synthesis. Furthermore, we demonstrate a non-equilibrium annealing strategy to achieve consistent properties. Ultimately, a peak zT of 1.15 at 623 K was achieved for optimally annealed and quenched pristine AgSbTe₂. Importantly, in the absence of dopant to fully stabilize the AgSbTe₂ phase, we propose limiting its application to the vicinity of room temperature for cooling, and above 633 K for waste heat harvesting.

近年来，无机热电材料取得了突飞猛进的发展。这在很大程度上是由物理理解和结构特性的进步推动的。特别是，p型 AgSbTe ₂最近已成为低温和中温应用的最佳热电材料之一。然而，它长期存在稳定性和不一致性问题，导致n型 Ag ₂ Te 析出物和性能急剧下降。在这项工作中，我们追溯了 AgSbTe _{2热电特性可变性的起源}在文献中发现合成过程中的冷却速率。此外，我们展示了一种非平衡退火策略来实现一致的特性。最终，最佳退火和淬火的原始 AgSbTe _{2在 623 K 时达到了 1.15 的峰值}zT。重要的是，在没有掺杂剂来完全稳定 AgSbTe ₂相的情况下，我们建议将其应用限制在室温附近以进行冷却，并在 633 K 以上进行余热收集。