Record-Low and Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bulk ZrTe 5 Single Crystal

Zhu, Jie; Feng, Tianli; Mills, Scott; Wang, Peipei; Wu, Xuewang; Zhang, Liyuan; Pantelides, Sokrates T.; Du, Xu; Wang, Xiaojia

doi:10.1021/acsami.8b12504

Title: Record-Low and Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bulk ZrTe ₅ Single Crystal

Journal Article · Fri Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b12504· OSTI ID:1543693

Zhu, Jie ^[1]; Feng, Tianli ^[2]; Mills, Scott ^[3]; Wang, Peipei ^[4]; Wu, Xuewang ^[5]; Zhang, Liyuan ^[4]; Pantelides, Sokrates T. ^[2];

^[3];

^[5]

Dalian Univ. of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning (China). Key Laboratory of Ocean Energy Utilization and Energy Conservation of Ministry of Education
Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy and Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Southern Univ. of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong (China). Dept. of Physics
Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, and Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Zirconium pentatelluride (ZrTe5) has recently attracted renewed interest owing to many of its newly discovered extraordinary physical properties, such as 2D and 3D topological-insulator behavior, pressure-induced superconductivity, Weyl semimetal behavior, Zeeman splitting, and resistivity anomaly. The quasi-one-dimensional structure of single-crystal ZrTe5 also promises large anisotropy in its thermal properties, which have not yet been studied. In this work, via time-domain thermoreflectance measurements, ZrTe5 single crystals are discovered to possess a record-low thermal conductivity along the b-axis (through-plane), as small as 0.33 ± 0.03 W m–1 K–1 at room temperature. This ultralow b-axis thermal conductivity is 12 times smaller than its a-axis thermal conductivity (4 ± 1 W m–1 K–1) owing to the material’s asymmetrical crystalline structure. First-principles calculations are further conducted to reveal the physical origins of the ultralow b-axis thermal conductivity, which can be attributed to: (1) the resonant bonding and strong lattice anharmonicity induced by electron lone pairs, (2) the weak interlayer van der Waals interactions, and (3) the heavy mass of Te atoms, which results in low phonon group velocity. This work sheds light on the design and engineering of high-efficiency thermal insulators for applications such as thermal barrier coatings, thermoelectrics, thermal energy storage, and thermal management.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0012704; FG02-09ER46554

OSTI ID:: 1543693

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1597913

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 10, Issue 47; ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 28 works

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