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Title: Grain Boundary Engineering for Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance in n-Type Skutterudites

Abstract

Grain or phase boundaries play a critical role in the carrier and phonon transport in bulk thermoelectric materials. Previous investigations about controlling boundaries primarily focused on the reducing grain size or forming nanoinclusions. Herein, liquid phase compaction method is first used to fabricate the Yb‐filled CoSb 3 with excess Sb content, which shows the typical feature of low‐angle grain boundaries with dense dislocation arrays. Seebeck coefficients show a dramatic increase via energy filtering effect through dislocation arrays with little deterioration on the carrier mobility, which significantly enhances the power factor over a broad temperature range with a high room‐temperature value around 47 μW cm −2 K −1 . Simultaneously, the lattice thermal conductivity could be further suppressed via scattering phonons via dense dislocation scattering. As a result, the highest average figure of merit ZT of ≈1.08 from 300 to 850 K could be realized, comparable to the best reported result of single or triple‐filled Skutterudites. This work clearly points out that low‐angle grain boundaries fabricated by liquid phase compaction method could concurrently optimize the electrical and thermal transport properties leading to an obvious enhancement of both power factor and ZT .

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Harbin Inst. of Technology, Harbin (China)
  2. South Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen (China)
  3. Univ. of Houston, Houston, TX (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1388361
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1398281
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577; DE‐SC0001299
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Advanced Energy Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 13; Related Information: S3TEC partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Boston College; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Journal ID: ISSN 1614-6832
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; solar (photovoltaic); solar (thermal); solid state lighting; phonons; thermal conductivity; thermoelectric; defects; mechanical behavior; charge transport; spin dynamics; materials and chemistry by design; optics; synthesis (novel materials); synthesis (self-assembly); synthesis (scalable processing); energy filtering effect; filled Skutterudites; liquid phase compaction; low‐angle grain boundaries; phonon‐dislocation scattering

Citation Formats

Meng, Xianfu, Liu, Zihang, Cui, Bo, Qin, Dandan, Geng, Huiyuan, Cai, Wei, Fu, Liangwei, He, Jiaqing, Ren, Zhifeng, and Sui, Jiehe. Grain Boundary Engineering for Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance in n-Type Skutterudites. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/aenm.201602582.
Meng, Xianfu, Liu, Zihang, Cui, Bo, Qin, Dandan, Geng, Huiyuan, Cai, Wei, Fu, Liangwei, He, Jiaqing, Ren, Zhifeng, & Sui, Jiehe. Grain Boundary Engineering for Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance in n-Type Skutterudites. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201602582
Meng, Xianfu, Liu, Zihang, Cui, Bo, Qin, Dandan, Geng, Huiyuan, Cai, Wei, Fu, Liangwei, He, Jiaqing, Ren, Zhifeng, and Sui, Jiehe. 2017. "Grain Boundary Engineering for Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance in n-Type Skutterudites". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201602582. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1388361.
@article{osti_1388361,
title = {Grain Boundary Engineering for Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance in n-Type Skutterudites},
author = {Meng, Xianfu and Liu, Zihang and Cui, Bo and Qin, Dandan and Geng, Huiyuan and Cai, Wei and Fu, Liangwei and He, Jiaqing and Ren, Zhifeng and Sui, Jiehe},
abstractNote = {Grain or phase boundaries play a critical role in the carrier and phonon transport in bulk thermoelectric materials. Previous investigations about controlling boundaries primarily focused on the reducing grain size or forming nanoinclusions. Herein, liquid phase compaction method is first used to fabricate the Yb‐filled CoSb 3 with excess Sb content, which shows the typical feature of low‐angle grain boundaries with dense dislocation arrays. Seebeck coefficients show a dramatic increase via energy filtering effect through dislocation arrays with little deterioration on the carrier mobility, which significantly enhances the power factor over a broad temperature range with a high room‐temperature value around 47 μW cm −2 K −1 . Simultaneously, the lattice thermal conductivity could be further suppressed via scattering phonons via dense dislocation scattering. As a result, the highest average figure of merit ZT of ≈1.08 from 300 to 850 K could be realized, comparable to the best reported result of single or triple‐filled Skutterudites. This work clearly points out that low‐angle grain boundaries fabricated by liquid phase compaction method could concurrently optimize the electrical and thermal transport properties leading to an obvious enhancement of both power factor and ZT .},
doi = {10.1002/aenm.201602582},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1388361}, journal = {Advanced Energy Materials},
issn = {1614-6832},
number = 13,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Feb 17 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Fri Feb 17 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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High‐Performance Solution‐Processable Flexible SnSe Nanosheet Films for Lower Grade Waste Heat Recovery
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