Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb 1-x Ti x FeSb

He, Ran; Kraemer, Daniel; Mao, Jun; Zeng, Lingping; Jie, Qing; Lan, Yucheng; Li, Chunhua; Shuai, Jing; Kim, Hee Seok; Liu, Yuan; Broido, David; Chu, Ching-Wu; Chen, Gang; Ren, Zhifeng

doi:10.1073/pnas.1617663113

Title: Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb

Journal Article · Tue Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1617663113· OSTI ID:1332377

He, Ran ^[1]; Kraemer, Daniel ^[2]; Mao, Jun ^[1]; Zeng, Lingping ^[2]; Jie, Qing ^[1]; Lan, Yucheng ^[3]; Li, Chunhua ^[4]; Shuai, Jing ^[1]; Kim, Hee Seok ^[1]; Liu, Yuan ^[1]; Broido, David ^[4]; Chu, Ching-Wu ^[5]; Chen, Gang ^[2]; Ren, Zhifeng ^[1]

Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204,, Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139,
Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251,
Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467,
Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204,, Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204,, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720

Significance Thermoelectric technology can boost energy consumption efficiency by converting some of the waste heat into useful electricity. Heat-to-power conversion efficiency optimization is mainly achieved by decreasing the thermal conductivity in many materials. In comparison, there has been much less success in increasing the power factor. We report successful power factor enhancement by improving the carrier mobility. Our successful approach could suggest methods to improve the power factor in other materials. Using our approach, the highest power factor reaches ∼106 μW⋅cm ⁻¹ ⋅K ⁻² at room temperature. Such a high power factor further yields a record output power density in a single-leg device tested between 293 K and 868 K, thus demonstrating the importance of high power factor for power generation applications.

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Research Organization:: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: DOE DE-SC0010831; SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577

OSTI ID:: 1332377

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1388392

Journal Information:: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Vol. 113 Journal Issue: 48; ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:: Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 191 works

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Title: Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb 1-x Ti x FeSb

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Title: Achieving high power factor and output power density in p-type half-Heuslers Nb _1-x Ti _x FeSb