Ultralow thermal conductivity from transverse acoustic phonon suppression in distorted crystalline α-MgAgSb

Li, Xiyang; Liu, Peng-Fei; Zhao, Enyue; Zhang, Zhigang; Guidi, Tatiana; Le, Manh Duc; Avdeev, Maxim; Ikeda, Kazutaka; Otomo, Toshiya; Kofu, Maiko; Nakajima, Kenji; Chen, Jie; He, Lunhua; Ren, Yang; Wang, Xun-Li; Wang, Bao-Tian; Ren, Zhifeng; Zhao, Huaizhou; Wang, Fangwei

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14772-5

Ultralow thermal conductivity from transverse acoustic phonon suppression in distorted crystalline α-MgAgSb

Journal Article · Tue Feb 18 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14772-5· OSTI ID:1629018

^[1]; ^[2]; Zhao, Enyue ^[3]; Zhang, Zhigang ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[5]; ^[6]; Ikeda, Kazutaka ^[7]; ^[7]; Kofu, Maiko ^[8]; ^[2]; Chen, Jie ^[2]; He, Lunhua ^[9]; Ren, Yang ^[10]; ^[11]; ^[2]; Ren, Zhifeng ^[12]; Zhao, Huaizhou ^[13]; ^[14]

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Physics. Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics; Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan (China); City Univ. of Hong Kong (Hong Kong). Dept. of Physics; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). School of Physical Sciences; DOE/OSTI
Spallation Neutron Source Science Center, Dongguan (China)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Physics. Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). School of Physical Sciences
Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan (China)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab., ISIS Neutron Source
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia)
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan). Inst. of Materials Structure Science
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai (Japan). Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Physics. Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics; Spallation Neutron Source Science Center, Dongguan (China)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). X-ray Science Division
City Univ. of Hong Kong (Hong Kong). Dept. of Physics
Univ. of Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics. TcSUH
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Physics. Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Physics. Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics; Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan (China); City Univ. of Hong Kong (Hong Kong). Dept. of Physics; City Univ. of Hong Kong (Hong Kong). Dept. of Physics

Low thermal conductivity is favorable for preserving the temperature gradient between the two ends of a thermoelectric material, in order to ensure continuous electron current generation. In high-performance thermoelectric materials, there are two main low thermal conductivity mechanisms: the phonon anharmonic in PbTe and SnSe, and phonon scattering resulting from the dynamic disorder in AgCrSe2 and CuCrSe2, which have been successfully revealed by inelastic neutron scattering. Using neutron scattering and ab initio calculations, we report here a mechanism of static local structure distortion combined with phononanharmonic-induced ultralow lattice thermal conductivity in α-MgAgSb. Since the transverse acoustic phonons are almost fully scattered by the compound’s intrinsic distorted rocksalt sublattice, the heat is mainly transported by the longitudinal acoustic phonons. The ultralow thermal conductivity in α-MgAgSb is attributed to its atomic dynamics being altered by the structure distortion, which presents a possible microscopic route to enhance the performance of similar thermoelectric materials.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1629018

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1781000

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 11; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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