Fig. 1: Influence of composition distribution on thermal conductivity.
a, Backscattered electron (BSE) image showing the composition distribution of Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 pellet. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) maps of Bi, illustrating areas with random (b) and uniform (c) composition distribution. d Scanning thermal probe micro-image (STPM) depicting the thermal conductivity (κ) distribution corresponding to the area in (a). Schematic illustrations on the influence of edge dislocations with different alignment types in areas exhibiting random (e) and directional composition distribution (f), respectively. g A schematic representation of the preferential orientation of edge dislocations along the composition gradient direction (dCG).
