The invention belongs to the technical field of
energy materials, provides a near-room-temperature n-type multi-
metal co-doped PbTe-based thermoelectric material and a preparation method thereof, and is used for solving the problem that the thermoelectric performance of a near-room-temperature region of an existing PbTe-based thermoelectric material is limited. The invention provides a multi-
metal co-
doping collaborative optimization strategy based on Ni, Sn and Cu for intrinsic PbTe to obtain the near-room-temperature n-type multi-
metal co-doped PbTe-based thermoelectric material: PbTe + x% Ni + y% Sn + z% Cu, 1 < = x < = 1.4, 0.3 < = y < = 0.7, and 0.3 < = z < = 0.5, on one hand, the
conductivity is increased while a relatively large
Seebeck coefficient is maintained, the
room temperature ZT reaches 0.65, and the average ZT in a near-room-temperature region (300-473 K) reaches 0.85; on the other hand, the
lattice thermal conductivity is remarkably reduced while a high
power factor is maintained, decoupling regulation and control of electroacoustic transport parameters are achieved, and particularly, the thermoelectric performance is remarkably enhanced in a medium and low temperature region; in addition, the invention also has the advantages of simple preparation process, short period, wide
sintering molding conditions and the like.