The efficiency of thermoelectric energy converters is limited by the material thermoelectric figure of merit ( zT ). The recent advances in zT based on nanostructures limiting the phonon heat conduction is nearing a fundamental limit: The thermal conductivity cannot be reduced below the amorphous limit. We explored enhancing the Seebeck coefficient through a distortion of the electronic density of states and report a successful implementation through the use of the thallium impurity levels in lead telluride (PbTe). Such band structure engineering results in a doubling of zT in p -type PbTe to above 1.5 at 773 kelvin. Use of this new physical principle in conjunction with nanostructuring to lower the thermal conductivity could further enhance zT and enable more widespread use of thermoelectric systems.

This article reviews static and dynamic interfacial effects in magnetism, focusing on interfacially driven magnetic effects and phenomena associated with spin-orbit coupling and intrinsic symmetry breaking at interfaces. It provides a historical background and literature survey, but focuses on recent progress, identifying the most exciting new scientific results and pointing to promising future research directions. It starts with an introduction and overview of how basic magnetic properties are affected by interfaces, then turns to a discussion of charge and spin transport through and near interfaces and how these can be used to control the properties of the magnetic layer. Important concepts include spin accumulation, spin currents, spin-transfer torque, and spin pumping. An overview is provided to the current state of knowledge and existing review literature on interfacial effects such as exchange bias, exchange-spring magnets, the spin Hall effect, oxide heterostructures, and topological insulators. The article highlights recent discoveries of interface-induced magnetism and noncollinear spin textures, nonlinear dynamics including spin-transfer torque and magnetization reversal induced by interfaces, and interfacial effects in ultrafast magnetization processes.

We report measurements of the thermal conductivity of high-quality crystals of the cubic $\mathrm{I}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{V}\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{VI}}_2$ semiconductors ${\mathrm{AgSbTe}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{AgBiSe}}_2$. The thermal conductivity is temperature independent from 80 to 300 K at a value of approximately $0.70\mathrm{W}/\mathrm{mK}$. Heat conduction is dominated by the lattice term, which we show is limited by umklapp and normal phonon-phonon scattering processes to a value that corresponds to the minimum possible, where the phonon mean free path equals the interatomic distance. Minimum thermal conductivity in cubic $\mathrm{I}\mathrm{\text{−}}\mathrm{V}\mathrm{\text{−}}{\mathrm{VI}}_2$ semiconductors is due to an extreme anharmonicity of the lattice vibrational spectrum that gives rise to a high Grüneisen parameter and strong phonon-phonon interactions. Members of this family of compounds are therefore most promising for thermoelectric applications, particularly as $p$-type materials.

Distortions of the electronic density of states (DOS) are a potent mechanism to increase the thermopower of thermoelectric semiconductors, thereby increasing their power factor. We review band-structure engineering approaches that have been used to achieve this, resonant impurity levels, dilute Kondo effects, and hybridization effects in strongly correlated electron systems. These can increase the thermoelectric power of metals and semiconductors through two mechanisms: (1) the added density of states increases the thermopower in a nearly temperature-independent way; (2) resonant scattering results in a strong electron energy filtering effect that increases the thermopower at cryogenic temperatures where the electron–phonon interactions are weaker. Electronic structure calculation results for Tl:PbTe and Ti:PbTe are contrasted and identify the origin of the thermopower enhancement in Tl:PbTe. This leads to a discussion of the conditions for DOS distortions to produce thermopower enhancements and illustrates the existence of an optimal degree of delocalization of the impurity states. The experimentally observed resonant levels in several III–V, II–VI, IV–VI and V₂-VI₃ compound semiconductor systems are reviewed.