Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T16:12:31.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Half-Heusler phases and nanocomposites as emerging high-ZT thermoelectric materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2011

S. Joseph Poon ,
Di Wu ,
Song Zhu ,
Wenjie Xie ,
Terry M. Tritt ,
Peter Thomas  and
Rama Venkatasubramanian
S. Joseph Poon*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4714
Di Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4714
Song Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634
Wenjie Xie
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634
Terry M. Tritt
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634
Peter Thomas
Affiliation:
Center for Solid State Energetics, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
Rama Venkatasubramanian
Affiliation:
Center for Solid State Energetics, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: sjp9x@virginia.edu
Get access

Abstract

Half-Heusler (HH) phases, a versatile class of alloys with promising functional properties, have recently gained attention as emerging thermoelectric materials. These materials are investigated from the perspective of thermal and electronic transport properties for enhancing the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) at 800–1000 K. The electronic origin of thermopower enhancement is reviewed. Grain refinement and embedment of nanoparticles in HH alloy hosts were used to produce fine-grained as well as nanocomposites and monolithic nanostructured materials. Present experiments indicated that n-type Hf0.6Zr0.4NiSn0.995Sb0.005 HH alloys and p-type Hf0.3Zr0.7CoSn0.3Sb0.7/nano-ZrO2 composites can attain ZT = 1.05 and 0.8 near 900–1000 K, respectively. The observed ZT enhancements could be attributed to multiple origins; in particular, the electronic origin was identified. The prospect for higher ZT was investigated in light of a recently developed nanostructure model of lattice thermal conductivity. Tests performed on p–n couple devices from the newly developed HH materials showed good power generation efficiencies—achieving 8.7% efficiency for hot-side temperatures of about 700 °C.

Keywords

NanostructureThermoelectricThermal conductivity
Type
Invited Feature Papers
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 26 , Issue 22 , 28 November 2011 , pp. 2795 - 2802
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Culp, S.R., Poon, S.J., Hickman, N., and Tritt, T.M.: (Zr,Hf)Co(Sb,Sn) half-Heusler phases as high-temperature (>700 °C) p-type thermoelectric materials. Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 042106 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Yu, C., Zhu, T.J., Shi, R.Z., Zhang, Y., Zhao, X.B., and He, J.: High-performance half-Heusler thermoelectric materials Hf1-x ZrxNiSn1-ySby prepared by levitation melting and spark plasma sintering. Acta Mater. 57, 2757 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Yan, X., Joshi, G., Liu, W., Lan, Y., Wang, H., Lee, S., Simonson, J.W., Poon, S.J., Tritt, T.M., Chen, G., and Ren, Z.F.: Enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit of p-type half-Heuslers. Nano Lett. 11, 556 (2011).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Bhattacharya, S., Pope, A.L., Littleton, R.T., Tritt, T.M., Ponnambalam, V., Xia, Y., and Poon, S.J.: Effect of Sb doping on the thermoelectric properties of Ti-based half-Heusler compounds, TiNiSn1−xSbx. Appl. Phys. Lett. 77, 2476 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Yang, J., Li, H.M., Wu, T., Zhang, W.Q., Chen, L.D., and Yang, J.H.: Evaluation of half-Heusler compounds as thermoelectric materials based on the calculated electrical transport properties. Adv. Funct. Mater. 18, 2880 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Venkatasubramanian, R., Siivola, E., Colpitts, T., and O’Quinn, B.: Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit. Nature 413, 597 (2001).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Minnich, A.J., Dresselhaus, M.S., Ren, Z.F., and Chen, G.: Bulk nanostructured thermoelectric materials: Current research and future prospects. Energy Environ. Sci. 2, 466 (2009). J.F. Li, W.S. Liu, L.D. Zhao, and M. Zhou: High-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials. NPG Asia Mater. 2, 152 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Poudel, B., Hao, Q., Ma, Y., Lan, Y.C., Minnich, A., Yu, B., Yan, X., Wang, D.Z., Muto, A., Vashaee, D., Chen, X.Y., Liu, J.M., Dresselhaus, M.S., Chen, G., and Ren, Z.F.: High-thermoelectric performance of nanostructured bismuth antimony telluride bulk alloys. Science 320, 634 (2008).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Wang, X.W., Lee, H., Lan, Y.C., Zhu, G.H., Joshi, G., Wang, D.Z., Yang, J., Muto, A.J., Tang, M.Y., Klatsky, J., Song, S., Dresselhaus, M.S., Chen, G., and Ren, Z.F.: Enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit in nanostructured n-type silicon germanium bulk alloy. Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 193121 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Xie, W.J., Tang, X.F., Yan, Y.G., Zhang, Q.J., and Tritt, T.M.: Unique nanostructures and enhanced thermoelectric performance of melt-spun BiSbTe alloys. Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 102111 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Fan, S.F., Zhao, J.N., Guo, J., Yan, Q.Y., Ma, J., and Hng, H.H.: P-type BiSbTe nanocomposites with enhanced figure of merit. Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 182104 (2010).Google Scholar
12.Li, H., Tang, X.F., Su, X.L., Zhang, Q.J., and Uher, C.: Nanostructured bulk YbxCo4Sb12 with high thermoelectric performance prepared by the rapid solidification method. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 42, 145409 (2009).Google Scholar
13.Zide, J.M.O., Bahk, J-H., Singh, R., Zebarjadi, M., Zeng, G., Lu, H., Feser, J.P., Xu, D., Singer, S.L., Bian, Z.X., Majumdar, A., Bowers, J.E., Shakouri, A., and Gossard, A.C.: High efficiency semimetal/semiconductor nanocomposite thermoelectric materials. J. Appl. Phys. 108, 123702 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Kishimoto, K., Tsukamoto, M., and Koyanagi, T.: Temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient and the potential barrier scattering of n-type PbTe films prepared on heated glass substrates by rf sputtering. J. Appl. Phys. 92, 5331 (2002).Google Scholar
15.Popescu, A. and Woods, L.M.: Enhanced thermoelectricity in composites by electronic structure modifications and nanostructuring. Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 052102 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Heremans, J.P., Jovovic, V., Toberer, E.S., Saramat, A., Kurosaki, K., Charoenphakdee, A., Yamanaka, S., and Snyder, G.J.: Enhancement of thermoelectric efficiency in PbTe by distortion of the electronic density of states. Science 321, 554 (2008).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17.Lee, J.H., Wu, J., and Grossman, J.C.: Enhancing the thermoelectric power factor with highly mismatched isoelectronic doping. Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 016602 (2010).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Xie, W.J., Heb, J., Zhu, S., Su, X.L., Wang, S.Y., Holgate, T., Graff, J.W., Ponnambalam, V., Poon, S.J., Tang, X.F., Zhang, Q.J., and Tritt, T.M.: Simultaneously optimizing the inde-pendent thermoelectric properties in (Ti, Zr, Hf)(Co, Ni) Sb alloy by in situ forming InSb nanoinclusions. Acta Mater. 58, 4705 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Simonson, J.W., Wu, D., Xie, W.J., Tritt, T.M., and Poon, S.J.: Introduction of resonant states and enhancement of thermoelectric properties in half-Heusler alloys. Phys. Rev. B 83, 235211 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Ahmad, S., Hoang, K., and Mahanti, S.D.: Ab initio study of deep defect states in narrow band-gap semiconductors: Group III impurities in PbTe. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 056403 (2006).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Mingo, N., Hauser, D., Kobayashi, N.P., Plissonnier, M., and Shakouri, A.: “Nanoparticle-in-alloy” approach to efficient thermoelectrics: Silicides in SiGe. Nano Lett. 9, 711 (2009).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Nan, C.W., Birringer, R., Clarke, D.R., and Gleiter, H.: Effective thermal conductivity of particulate composites with interfacial thermal resistance. J. Appl. Phys. 81, 6692 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar